KFP Drabble : You and Me
by 3431jess
Summary: Collection of Kung Fu Panda drabble. Most of them are one shot. From romance, humour, angst to family and friendship. A lot of them would be from minor character point of view. The event would be mostly based on KFP, KFP 2 and KFP 3. Enjoy! Please read and review. Cover was done by ani-dragmire (tumblr). ONE SHOT COLLECTION
1. The Cost of War

THE COST OF WAR

KFP owned by Dreamworks.

Prepare some tissue paper :-) This going to be a ride!

* * *

Everyone was sitting, rather distressfully around the kitchen table, in front of them, laid an important looking scroll bearing the Emperor's seal, sprawled its content for everyone to see.

 _Coinciding the current critical situation, and protecting the national interest. Hereby, the Emperor requiring every Man who had Sons capable of bearing arms, who are between age 15 to 50 years, to send all of them immediately into the Emperor and gave them leave to enter into Imperial Army, to assist the country in the conflict at hand. Please understand the urgency of such message, and for the respective, potential soldier to make their leave promptly to each closest Imperial Army post - The Emperor would like to extend his voice of gratitude for such selfless action._

Everyone had a forlorn, afflicted stare. Each of their mind enslaved by the daunting possibility, the worst of expense the war might have demanded.

"Master Shifu, what's the meaning of this?"

"Tomorrow, Po, you... Monkey, Mantis, and Crane would be leaving to Chang'an to join the Imperial Army, as requested. The country is at war, and your service as kung fu Master, as a soldier, and as a defender of China is much needed. Tigress and Viper would fend the Valley as usual."

"I would like four of you to write to your respective parents, as soon as possible. Also, write, one more set of letters - as your final letters to anyone you wish, should the worst happened to you at war. I shall be responsible for the safe-keeping of the second letters, and would only be disposed discreetly to the intended recipient upon confirmation of your death. Now, all four of you are dismissed, take heed of what you are going to write... In my own selfish hope that each one of you returned, unharmed,... just take this as mere precautions."

"Be a warrior, and not a worrier. I bid four of you the very best, the greatest pleasure in life is to do, accomplish, and to win what people say you can not do."

Po looked at the letter in disbelief. Was this a prophecy of the future? Suddenly, a prospect of tomorrow had become uncertain as liken to the rain that threatened to fall. Would he live to see another day? When would he return? Would they succeed stopping their adversary? Who would take care of his goose dad should he die in the battle? And... would he see Tigress again? As the voice inside his head harkened, he landed his worried glance to the striped warrior sitting opposite him. Her eyes were gleaming with tears, her heart was heavy, her countenance was stricken. But this was no time for comfort and ease, it's time to dare and endure, for this was a chance that every man would stand for their dignity and proof the love to their country. And there was no love with no sacrifice.

Before this, Po had never given too much thought about dying. To an extent he was much aware, in his line of job, there was always a certain element of risk... to be killed. But nothing would outwit the feeling of demise to be part of war.

The next day, Po and three other male warriors were bidding their final farewell to their family. There was a lot of teary exchange, as the warriors readying to leave. He cradled his dad light feathery form, let himself once again soaked in the sentiment, the man that incessantly took care of him day in and out, showered him with his unconditional love, and had transformed him physically and mentally from a cub to a man. He stood and curtsy respectfully to his Master, thanking him for all the valuable parting wisdom and guidance he had bestowed. Lastly, he stood in front of the striped feline, his idol, his rock and his comfort. He started at her glassy amber eyes, gleamed with loads of emotion threatening to fall. He reached her paw, and he tugged her firmly in his arms as if he did not want to let her go. Both of them intertwined in a melancholic embrace, as their souls silently lamented their farewell. Her voice dropped along with her eyes, as she loosened up her grip.

"Po... it's time to go. Promise me... never let fear decide your fate. I am always proud of you... Dragon Warrior."

He felt his heart broke at that instant, but instead, he put his brazen facade on, smiled firmly and nodded to her. "I'll be back Tigress." Although he knew no one could guarantee that, his own word affirmation felt elating his spirit, sending a new wave of courage and earnestness. Tigress looked immensely proud, wiping the forming water in her radiant ruby eyes, as she watched him disappear into the horizon.

After seven years of intense battle, he found himself standing on the bottom of the thousand steps. The war had finally ended, and Dragon Warrior once again staved off the ugly oppressor from the shore of China. Watching friends and enemies rise and die, witnessing war brutality stole many fathers, brothers, and friends from their loved ones, did engraved mark on the panda's form and his soul. In peaceful time sons would bury their fathers, and in the war, fathers buried their sons.

He could see some white fur began to grow among his black fur, he'd earned a few more heroic battle marks around his limbs and torso, he'd made some new friends, and lost some forever. And if war cruelty not enough, anyone who ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield, would consider long and hard before starting a war. How war had made use the best warriors, like him to do the worst to other, was beyond comprehension - but yet unavoidable. War had stolen his innocence, the way he used to perceive the world and his attitude towards peace. War, really did not conclude who was right, but who was left.

However, unbeknownst to him, his three other comrades had returned four years ago, they were assigned to a different battalion. Po, dutifully as Dragon Warrior, was requested to stay back and wrapped up the loose end, as much as bestowing his valuable insight and wisdom on various political matters.

He climbed the Thousand Stairs with feverish anticipation. The happy memory carved many years ago in this place, exploded into tiny sparks of happiness in his chest. How he missed his home, his friends, his family, his Master... and a certain Tiger. Finally, he arrived in front of the palace gate, and Zeng had taken notice of his arrival, dashed as fast as a rocket launcher, informing and preparing everything for Po's dramatic entrance. In a celebratory mood, everyone quickly gathered in the Hall of Warriors, while a few geese assist Po with his pack.

 _This is it_. His heart hammered loudly against his chest as he pushed the door.

"Po...!"

"Man... you made it!"

"Panda, glad to have you back..."

"Wow.. Big Guy! We missed you!

Everyone half sobbed, half laughed, pinning him down forming a pile of stacked animal on the floor. His towering figure was wrapped, braided by many paws and wings (and pinchers! and..tail?) in unbidden group huddle... His vision blurred behind a blanket of happy tears, as they drew away, giving him room to breathe and moved away from him, he had a chance to see each of his old friends and some new acquaintances. He immediately turned to his Master.

"Master...you have a few new students." He bowed respectfully upon seeing Shifu.

"Indeed, I do Dragon Warrior. But... I am glad you are back. We thought you were...dead." He said soothingly. His azure orbs suddenly mellowed, even welled with tears. His skinny hand reached his plump furry arm patting it gently. "But I am glad you've made it... however there is one pressing thing I need to speak to you." He hastily dismissed the other students, leaving the panda in puzzlement.

"Po...I had news for you." He paused and averted his gaze to the floor ruefully, a line of worry dug deep into his skin.

"Tigress is getting married in two days time."

Po swore his heart stopped right there and then. He took a few calming breath, as the red panda looked at him - dejected, anguished and mournful.

"You see... none of us knew you'd survived the war. When the three had returned, none of them knew where you were or heard from you. It may be my fault to take the matter into my own hand, but I can't let my daughter wait indefinitely for you - her loss for you eating up her soul every day, I simply couldn't watch her suffer. So, a year after Crane, Mantis and Monkey returned, I bequeathed your final letter to each of the masters as we agreed in precedence. I don't know what exactly you wrote for Tigress. That's a private matter for her, but she had requested for me to look for a suitable man for her."

Po nodded understandingly. He knew what he wrote. In his last will, he asked Tigress to move on, to laugh and to be happy, and to live her life again.

"So... who is... this man?" He asked haltingly.

"His name is Yong Gang. He is a Siberian Tiger a few years older than Tigress. He was initially a Master at Gongmen Kung Fu Academy. Upon her request to look for a suitable suitor, I wrote a letter to various kung fu school, and I found Yong Gang was quite a fitting, his personality very much compatible with Tigress. He came as the result of my letter, a little rough start at the beginning, but within months, things seemed to fall into place. Both of them courting not long after. You can meet him. He'll be in the kitchen for dinner. He's a loyal, amiable man, also an excellent fighter with high nobility."

Po excused himself after that, he headed down to the Sacred Peach Tree and meditated for a few hour, just to confided his thought in a moment of reclusion. Suddenly, a gentle, velvety voice that he craved to hear called his name.

"Po?" The panda flicked his glance behind his shoulder to find his best friend stood there.

"Tigress... Hi." He deceptively placed a gleeful smile. But the tiger didn't buy his charade and immediately stomped out the truth out of him. "Po... don't pretend in front of me." She sighed heavily. "I take it Shifu has already told you everything, hasn't he?" The panda hummed a small agreement.

"Po... I am sorry. I wished I knew you'd return." Po smiled inwardly at her confession. May be... just may be, Tigress did wish both of them to be together. But her action was intelligible. None of them grew younger, and in his final scroll - he did ask her to move on with her life, and she did exactly as he wished.

"That's ok Tigress... you are just... following my wish." Immediately one question bade his mind. "Are you... happy with Yong Gang?" His jade orbs were pleading for reaction.

"Very..." The tiger smiled sullenly, as she took a seat next to the panda.

"He makes me very happy... just the way when you are with me..." Those words stung his innermost being. A twinge, insufferable pain crept to his heart knowing how much Tigress had endured waiting for him, missing him... loving him. But the same way his heart washed over with a warm sense of relief witnessing the love of his life had found comfort she deserved - even when it was on the arm of another man. There were tears in both of their eyes, gold meet jade, and they could only see regret reflected back. Then he knew that he loved her so much that he couldn't even hate her for breaking his heart. His finger quickly wiped the forming tears in her eyes, as he fought back his, even though uncontrollable eruption of heartache and sorrow strangled his being, choking his soul.

"Shh... Tigress, don't cry. I hate to see you sad... especially over me." His voice sounded raspy.

He took liberty to glance again into her beautiful eyes, the window of her being, reminding him again this was Tigress - the girl who took no order from anyone, the platinum souled warrior, the master of hard-style that he had grown to love. Yet, Po had seen the softer side of her, the vulnerable, affectionate and passionate woman that he was very much in tune with. She let him wiped her tears away and nodded obediently.

"I understand if you don't want to be there at my wedding. But I wanted you to know, you are always welcome, and you owned a special seat in my heart. When you crash landed in front of me years ago, I just knew... you will be such a special friend to me."

Moved by her earnest confession, the panda abruptly pulled her into his arm, girded his large paw on her small frame, securely inside his protective embrace, giving himself time to accept with his heart, the fact that his mind already knew. _She belonged to someone else_. Some people meant to fall in love with each other but never destined to be together. And Tigress would be the one person he always loved, no matter how much pain it caused him.

He quickly loosened his embrace, not wanting anyone to speculate things unseemly. He smiled.

"You are too... I am happy for you Tigress."

He trudged heavily back to the student barrack, slid the door that covered a lot of cherished memory. Concealed behind those paper walls, he and Tigress had spent countless nights, comforting each other's nightmares, confiding their insecurities, exchanging words of consolation, or simply gazing into each other's eyes. He was greeted with his empty room. The creaky wooden floor that normally screamed an excruciating creak while pressed by his immense weight. His slightly crooked bamboo bedroll that had followed the exact curve of his frame, and a collection of his action figures, faithfully waiting for his owner black arm to play with them or took them on missions. He cautiously picked Tigress' action figure, held it in his paw as he began to weep openly.

Suddenly, he heard a sound.

"Po... po... wake up!"

Gathering all his consciousness and in between blanketed blurry vision he saw indistinct silhouettes, voices and moving forms. He closed his eyes for another blink, and his vision improved, shapes became tangible, shadows revealing itself as his surrounding, and silhouette as some familiar face.

It was Tigress.

And he was laying down on his bed, in his room.

"You had a nightmare, don't you?... you were... crying in your sleep." She sat by his bedroll, tugged a small sympathetic smile on her maw. A note of concern entered her voice."Are you okay? Want to talk about it?"

Po thought long and hard, maybe those dreams were there to teach him something, may be urging him to do things to be done, deeds to be said before it was too late. He looked into her beguiled golden eyes. Sure, admittedly he fell for the striped feline, rather badly - in fact, this was his first and hopefully the last. But heavens, any man with eyes had knowingly admitted to themselves that seeing her in person... she was beautiful, strong yet delicate, and it wasn't just physical, the more he heard about her act of bravery and selflessness, the more he found her endearing. Totally and utterly, drop dead stunning.

He gathered all the courage he could muster, leaned forward, and gave her a gentle kiss on her lips. He smiled and stared at her enchanting amber eyes, held her paw gently and earnestly confessed.

"Tigress... there probably one day, I might have to let go of my life..., but I would never let go of you."

* * *

This is my idea of Ti-Po love was like... And should they ever confess to each other, I like it... the hard-style way.

Aren't you glad it was just a dream? Please leave me a comment if you do.


	2. To Wake Up Happy

This story inspired by Lion's Warrior book of one shot: He owned Po's version while I decided to make Tigress' POV

s/11851189/34/Lion-s-Book-of-Oneshots

Note that I don't own KFP :-) Dreamworks does!

* * *

Tigress almost never had a good night sleep. The curse of being a light sleeper, there was almost always something that interrupted her slumber. From the sound of thunder, the rattling of the barrack roof, the cracking of branch outside her window, to the sound of the snore from the panda across her room, which often accompanied by spurious mumbled about dumpling, bean buns and Kung Fu in his sleep. But not today, she woke up feeling energized and exceedingly refreshed from the night before. No doubt it was one of the best night sleep she had in months!

She let a tiny mewl as she stretched on herself bedroll. The dimmed ray of the sun was just peeking shyly through the blind of her bedroom. 'It must be hours from the gong.' In the solid darkness, she decided she would go outside to meditate while waiting for the rest to wake up.

Just when she about to sit up on her bed, she realized one thing felt amiss. Awkwardly, she peeked on her body under the blanket.

 _'Seriously?'_ She gasped as she found out she wore nothing. Literally _nothing_. Completely unclad.

Tigress had never felt so exposed before. She always slept with her night robe on all her life, and she had no idea what compelled her to sleep without one. But what she was about to witness next going to horrify her further. She sat down with one paw desperately clutching the edge of her blanket, trying to create an illusion of modesty. Her flickering cat eyes swept through the floor and her desk, attempting to identify any sign of garments she could wear. Involuntarily, her ears caught a noise of something... wait... somebody next to her began to stir, even tugging back the other side of the blanket she was holding. She turned to find another creature on her bed.

Tigress yelped and fell out of bed in naked shock. Still aghast, she attempted to contain herself and listened to her surrounding fearing that someone might approach the door to witness the state she was in. To her surprise, she didn't hear anyone else muttering from other room liked it was normally if they detected a suspicious noise. She sighed in instant relief.

Accidentally, she dragged the blanket with her as she fell, revealing a massive black and white heap of fur who shared her bed last night.

 _'Po? What the hell he is doing on my bed!'_ And as heaven wanted to play a mean prank on her, upon closer observation, the monochromatic panda who was still snoring soundly with his back facing her, but he was too… wearing nothing. _'Thank god he is facing the wall'_ Tigress felt she just about to die of embarrassment. She couldn't even bring herself to think what might have happened last night between her and the bear. 'I am going to beat him to a pulp when he woke up.' She gritted her teeth, and her tail lashed back and forth in irritation. But, she remembered before she dealt with the bear she had to make herself decent.

Tigress put the blanket back to cover Po, while she grabbed her qipao and scurried to put it on. She glanced at her own image in her bedroom mirror. She scrutinized her other self…. she looked a bit… different. But she couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly. She opened the door to get some water and soon became aware she wasn't in the student barrack. She was in the kitchen. Tigress left bewildered. _'Where am I? More importantly when is this?'_

She decided she would do a little detective work.

Her eyes scanned the room aiming to gather some clues. She spotted Po's action figure of himself and the Furious Five in the middle of the kitchen counter, a messy stack of scrolls by the window sill, and Po's staff by the kitchen door. Po's cloak and hers hung neatly on the peg on the wall. Both of her pack and Po's were empty and placed upside down next to the fireplace. All she could gather was this place must be where she lived for a while, not sort of an inn or temporary accommodation.

Her eyes caught a strong lead by the kitchen dresser. There were series of pictures. One was the one of herself, Shifu, Po and the rest of the Five during winter feast. A few other sketches of Po when he was a cub clutching Mr. Ping in various poses, one was her picture with the young version of Master Shifu, and many…many…many other were pictures of her and Po in different occasions, just the two of them without the rest of the Five. She felt edgy about all this.

Her suspicion grew stronger.

One of the picture right on the top of the rack was of both of them in gold and red outfit. Po was wearing marvelously flamboyant robe (and his signature goofy grin), his arm was around her waist. On the other hand, the tigress on the picture was looking extremely…feminine, with blood red lipstick adorned her lips and lotus blossom pinned in her hair next to a wondrously intricate headpiece. She wore a proud smile as her hand clasped with Po's other paw.

 _'…Is this, a wedding picture? Am I… married to Po?'_ That's explained the condition she woke up this morning. Suddenly she lost the strength to her knee and slouched down on the floor, jaw-slacked.

Before Tigress had a chance rummage any further, she heard footsteps approaching, followed by a big husky yawn.

"Hi, Ti… you are early." The sleepy bear made his way outside the bedroom. _Thankfully_ had already worn his trousers.

"I-I… have enough sleep." She muttered instantaneously corrected her posture from earlier to avoid suspicion.' _What he called me? Ti? Is that sort of my nickname?'_

"Hungry? What do you fancy for breakfast? Noodle?" Po approached her, pull her into his warm embrace and gave her a peck on the cheek. Tigress stiffened, not used to such a close encounter. She felt Po's plush body rubbing hers. Her heart pounded so hard against her ribs. She swore Po might even be able to hear it.

"Ti, are you okay?" Po placed his paw on her head, his eyes radiated with concern. "You looked pale…"

"Y-yes, I-I feel fine, never better." She stammered nervously, but swiftly calmed herself. "So, what do you have planned for today?" She changed the topics.

"Uhh.. yeah today, the Five except monkey are going to take the class. I had to make a quick trip on behalf of Master Shifu to the nearby village - but don't worry I'll be back before lunch. I meet you then at my Dad's for some noodles." Po replied. His hand was proficiently chopping ingredients while his lips occasionally hummed a tune.

"Where are monkey and master Shifu?" Tigress questioned the bear.

"Monkey is helping his girlfriend, Xia, to move into the valley. I thought you were there when we discussed it? And Master Shifu went on his honeymoon. This is only his third week remember? He won't be back until next month." Tigress was just about to slap herself.

 _'Really? Shifu had… a wife? Now this is news!'_ Tigress still dumbfounded, but if she 'Master Tigress the master of hardstyle' could end up getting hitched to a panda, why his adopted father couldn't find the same happiness? - fortunately for her, Po was still busy cooking that he didn't even notice her incredulous look.

"Ah yes, I forgot that he is still away for another week." Tigress lied.

"…so you've felt better this week I notice? no more trip to the bathroom at a unsociable hour in the morning?" Tigress had no idea what Po was referring to, but she was not going to challenge him. "Nope, feeling as good as ever." She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Good." He smiled widely, grabbing the ladle and poured his soup onto the bowls. "Order up, especially for my wife."

Both of them ate quickly while exchanging small talk about various people in the village. After they were done, Po did the washing and Tigress dried the dishes.

"So what do you think you'll be doing today Ti? Remember, don't be too hard on yourself," reminded the bear. Tigress just obediently nodded in compliance.

"I might just check the palace and meditate under the Sacred Peach Tree." She replied.

"Good, so are you ready? I'll walk you there. She was about to scoff in refusal. It hurt her ego a little bit to be treated like a fragile heirloom. But on second thought she wasn't ready to attract any contentious argument with the panda, who appeared rather possessive for an unknown reason.

"Ready is my middle name…" she smirked.

"Hey, that's my line!" Po elbowed her playfully. The tiger just snickered in amusement.

Tigress and Po walked hand in hand. Tigress felt a bit awkward to this new 'closeness' she experienced, but she didn't complain. _'So this is how it felt to be loved? As cliche as it may sound, it was actually quite… nice. Wait a minute, Tigress… FOCUS, this is just a dream! Yes of course just a dream. Oh well, for once it's nice not to have a nightmare.'_

Apparently, their house was about a li distance from the barrack. Po gently planted a kiss on her forehead before leaving her near to the barrack's entrance. As soon as he disappeared from her sight, Tigress purposefully headed down to the Training Hall. She observed a bunch of creatures busy throwing punches and kicks. Her eyes caught a sight of two pandas, sparring under surveillance of Viper and Crane, who were coaching them with occasional correcting comments.

The door creaked, all the occupants of the hall immediately sensed Tigress' presence.'Stupid door,' Tigress swore under her breath.

"Tigress…" Both Viper and Crane turned around to greet her. Out of a sudden, Viper dashed close to her side, "What are you doing here? You are not supposed to be here!" She put down her voice to a conspirational whisper so the other couldn't hear her.

Tigress left confused again, tons of scenario running through her mind. "Why?"

"Well, I promised Po to watch you, I know how much you love to train," Viper dryly replied while wearing a tight smile.

Tigress checked from trauma, bruises or sprain on her body… she found nothing. 'Why am I not allowed to train?' But Tigress relented with her friend's decision since she didn't want to raise any suspicion. 'I'll found out eventually.'

"Why don't you go the Mr. Ping and we'll meet you there. He might need some help with Jian." Viper suggested. Tigress frowned hearing a new name, but she settled for the idea and heading out from the hall.

Tigress walked down the Thousand Steps slowly, still wondering what kind of weird dream she was having at the moment. Truth be told, she kind of… like it. 'Shifu is married, Monkey has a girlfriend, and I am Dragon Warrior's wife.' She mused, mentally preparing herself for another pleasant surprise.

Before she knew it, she was at the bottom of the stairs. She could see the entrance of Dragon Warrior Tofu and Noodle Shop. The shop looked deserted, and the counter was tightly shut. However, she could hear the mild dissonance emitted from inside the kitchen. 'Sounded like Mr. Ping had a guest.' Tigress was about turned to leave when the goose appeared at the door.

"Tigress, my daughter… so lovely to see you." The goose gave her a crushing hug, causing her to blush at the motion. She wondered how long until she got used to all this hugging business.

"Morning Mr. Ping, I heard you from outside… it seems like you are busy entertaining a guest, I don't want to disturb." She explained.

"Aw… nonsense. It's just Jian came here to play since his mom needs to make a quick trip to the tailor. And by the way, how many dozen times should I tell you don't call me Mr. Ping… call me Dad. I am not Shifu y'know?" He reciprocated sarcastically.

"It's weird you are not training today?" The goose put her on the firing line. Tigress mentally face-palmed herself. That's the same puzzle she desperately wanted to answer herself. "Nevermind, let's make a good use of those free paw." The goose quickly tugged Tigress' wrist and dragged her inside. "Please come in, you can help with the restaurant can't you?" Tigress obediently nodded.

She entered Mr. Ping's kitchen by the back door. Employing her unnatural strength, she helped him carrying some crates full of veggies. Upon opening the door, a little panda about 5-year-old, with beautiful azure orbs came out and enthusiastically greeted them. "Great Uncle Ping…Aunt Tigress!" The cub launched himself and girded Tigress' leg in a tenacious hug.

"Now Jian, let Aunt Tigress put the crate down, then you can have a cuddle with her." Mr. Ping tried to pacify the overly excited cub. Tigress deposited the load on the corner of the kitchen. "Now, why don't you two play checkers while I prepare lunch." The goose offered."Everyone will be here later, and I had not started doing anything. I've put the game out upstairs by Po's desk." So Tigress and the cub sat down by Po's old bed and started the game.

"Aunt Tigress…I've missed you, it's been nearly a month since the last time I saw you, where have you been?" Jian crossed his chubby arm and pouting cutely. He furrowed his eyebrows pretending he was somewhat unhappy. Tigress lips spread into a smile watching the cub's antics. "We'd been busy on a mission and such Jian, I am sorry. But now I am here. By the way, where are your parents?"

"Daddy is working by Mrs. Ming farmyard as usual, and Mommy needs to go to the tailor to pick up some fabrics for her latest project, that's why I am here," Jian said dryly.

"What is she making?" Tigress pried, while still half concentrating on the game so that she didn't make an awfully stupid move.

"It's Ms. Xue wedding dress,… and she said she made a surprise for you." Tigress cringed at the last bit of the sentence. She disliked surprises - the only one she knew till date frequently involved the word 'prank' and diabolical embarrassment.

While Tigress and Jian were engrossed in conversation and game of checkers, they heard a familiar feminine voice calling from outside the establishment.

"Jian…!" The cub gasped. "That's my mom…!" He bolted down the creaky staircase and burst out of the back door. Tigress and Mr. Ping followed behind. When Tigress reached the restaurant, she saw Jian cuddling a female panda, presumably his mom, but Tigress swore she knew that panda's feminine giggle.

"Mei mei?"

The panda in question quickly stood up and in turn encircled her ample arms around Tigress in a bear hug.

"Tigress! Awww... you look well, it's been a month since the last time I see you." She released her hug and whispered fervently to the tiger's ear,

"I bet Mr. Ping and Li Shan will be pleased with the news." Tigress gave her quizzical look.

"What news?"

Mei Mei just elbowed her and chortled knowingly. " _That_ news. Ok, I had to dash off to see Ms. Chang, I'll be back in a blink."

Just as Mei Mei disappeared, Tigress ears picked up another familiar chatter. It was the Five minus Monkey and Crane.

"Hi, Tigress." Viper quickly approached the feline.

"Been busy? How's the class?" Replied the tiger.

"Well, usual things. Nothing new. Lei Lei and Bao really improved a lot this week. They did nearly 100 scrolls in a matter of weeks." The snake reciprocated with resounding pride of her students. Then it hit her. Tigress realized two panda teens she saw earlier in the training hall was Lei Lei and Bao.

"They'll come here to meet you for lunch."

"Where is Crane?"

"Oh, he is picking up the kids," Viper said flatly.

" _The_ kids?" Tigress deadpanned.

"Yes, our kids... Xue and Kun... Tigress, are you sure you are ok?" Viper gave her a worried look. "You might have been slightly under the weather."

 _'Oh, Viper and Crane presumably already married and had kids... great, another surprise.'_ Tigress ignored her friend concern, luckily before Viper had a chance to challenge her further, someone else arrived at the shop. Lei Lei and Bao, Crane and his kids emerged at once.

"Mom...!" Tigress turned around. She was confident that name was directed to her since she was the only other female besides Viper. Alas, she was never aware she had a child.

"Mom..?" Unable to get a satisfying response, Lei Lei drew her paw to Tigress arm. The tiger still stunned, her sunset eyes locking unconvinced gaze with her adopted daughter. ' _Did she just called me Mom?'_

"Mom, are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine Lei Lei, don't worry. Just a little tired." Tigress offered as an explanation.

"Where is Dad?" Bao directed the question to Tigress. _'Heck, it appeared that Po and I adopted these two.'_ "Your dad is on a small mission trip; he'll be back for lunch." Speaking of the devil, before Tigress completed her sentence, she heard a shout "Awesome...way to go buddy!" from a distance.

"Dad!" Lei Lei and Bao hurled to share a warm hug.

"Hey, how are your two doing? Have you been training hard...Hmmm...?"

"We are on scroll 650, Dad... " Lei Lei reported excitedly. "That's not far from 1000, we'll be as awesome as Tai Lung!" joked Bao. "It would be interesting to learn nerve attack. We can use it on Mom." Bao said playfully knowing it didn't work on pandas because their nerves were well hidden under their fat. Tigress just scoffed distastefully.

"I'll make you jog the Thousand Steps ten times a day and no dinner for a week you dare to do that," Tigress responded sarcastically.

"Hi, guys...Hi, Ti...Hi Dad..." Po quickly turned to gave Tigress a quick kiss on her lips and hug his goose dad. Tigress blushed as Po grab her by the waist, pull her closer until her body literally stuck on his chest. Later on, he escorted her to the chair next to him. Lei Lei and Bao battled to squeeze themselves between tiny gap around the chairs to find a space to sit. Everyone circled around three conjoined table, which getting a little more difficult as Jade Palace family had swelled through the year.

"So, who else not here yet?" Po glanced through everyone around the table.

"Hey guys, wait up!" Monkey surfaced on the gate, his hand clutching her fox girlfriend. Right behind them were Mei Mei, her husband Hom-Lee and her son Jian.

Mr. Ping quickly made his appearance. "Everyone ready for lunch?"

"You all can't start without me." A big deep husky voice boomed through the restaurant. In front of them stood a large figure wearing a cloak, his paw carrying a big tray concealed with a cloth. What even more shocking was behind Li, was a two smaller figures.

Tigress adjusted her vision trying to grasp all the new faces in front of her.

"Dad! Shifu! Master Xin!" Po quickly stood up to give his panda dad a warm welcome. "What a surprise!" Tigress ears twitched when she heard Shifu's name being mentioned.

"Well, Mei Mei told me I shouldn't miss this." Li Shan gave a wink to Mei Mei. The female panda just giggled serendipitously. "So I decided to make a surprise appearance."

"I thought Master Shifu wouldn't be back until next week," Po said, but he was clearly pleased to see his father in law and his mother in law. "Well, I went to see your father as a part of our honeymoon trip, and he mentioned about this surprise party that I can't miss." Shifu expounded. He made a quick glance see other guests of the party and make a bowing gesture to everyone.

"Thanks, Shifu, I am sure you won't be disappointed." Po's eyes started to glisten; it's not everyday Shifu decided to shorten his honeymoon over a small party.

Mr. Ping asked Po to help up serving the table. While Li quickly sneaked into the kitchen to drop the mysterious big tray he carried earlier and scooted back to sit outside with the rest. They all exchanged story and joke with one another. Tigress swore she had never heard so much laughter, and she had never felt happier. Mantis and Monkey played 'guess who am I' game impersonating all the masters and bandits, they even got the nerve to force Po performing a belly dance.

Unexpectedly, a big two-tiered chocolate cake with lustrous fondant icing on the top made a grand entrance to the courtyard, and the warm chocolate smell filled everyone's nostril. Mei Mei stepped carefully to ensure she won't stumble while holding the masterpiece. Tigress was wondering whom the cake was for; she couldn't recall it was anyone's birthday. Upon closer inspection, the cake had been decorated with cub's paw footprint on the top. The next thing she knew, the panda turned to a halt next to the tiger and placed the cake nonchalantly in front of her. Tigress was clearly perplexed, she looked at Po who just smiled meaningfully as he stood up.

"Friends and Family, today me and Tigress has great news to share." He paused and looked at both of his dads.

Mr. Ping nearly died of excitement and Li Shan clutching on Mei Mei's paw in raw anticipation, and he squeezed it so hard that she flinched. Shifu was tempted to bite his fingernail but was prevented by his wife. Everybody waited impatiently; the apprehension felt deeply agonizing.

"After waiting for three long years, finally... this day come." He exhaled dreamily. Even Tigress dropped cold sweat and squirmed on her seat, overwhelmed by the suspense.

"Tigress and I are going to be parents!" Po beamed. As he finished the sentence, everyone coherently blustered in jubilant cheer. Both of his dads stormed Po into a hug. A few swarmed around Tigress and Po, hugging or shaking their hands.

"Congratulation Son, we are proud of you and Tigress."

"Way to go Buddy!"

"You do us proud, Dude!"

"I can't believe it I will be a grand-dad!"

Shifu and his wife chose a more cultured approach and addressed Tigress who still looked dazed, digesting on what happened. Tigress quickly snapped back to reality looking at her adopted father and her new mother.

"Tigress, I knew this day would come... I am happy for you, my daughter. You always make me proud." Shifu then kissed her forehead. Tigress was spellbound, her mind catching up with the words she long to hear. "You said, you... _proud_ of me?" Tears of joy nearly escaped from the corner of her eyes. But her self-consciousness hastily overtook her, and she moved her face quickly to avoid anyone noticing. "Thank you, Master, I..-"

"Tigress, outside the training hall, I am your father... and Ms. Xin is your mother." Her master spoke to her in gentle but reassuring tone. "Yes, Mast-... I mean Father".

Tigress gazed upon two of her female friends, Mei Mei and Viper who were tugging a broad smile watching all the commotion from a distance. She walked over from her seat.

"Did you two plan all these?"

"Well, kind of. When Po told us the news two weeks ago, I get Viper to help up arranging and to inform everybody. And I asked Li Shan to fetch the cake from the bakery since it was rather heavy to carry." Mei Mei replied proudly. "We want to make it special for you and Po."

Before they knew it, the tiger wrapped her strong arms around her best friends. "How can I say thank you enough."

"That's what girlfriends are for." chuckled Viper.

The intimate celebration went on. There were more foods to indulge, and everyone took the turn to congratulate the happy couple. Tigress lost count on how many times her friends hugged her - to her surprise, she wasn't rejecting any of them, rather encouraged such gesture of affection, which really unlike her old self.

They sang, exchanged stories, played mahjong until the sun started to descend. The masters and their families then haltingly headed back to their respective home.

"Where will you be staying tonight Dad?" Po questioned the towering male panda who was busy meddling with his pack.

"I am staying in your old room for tonight, tomorrow I'll be staying with Mei Mei - she needs a little help renovating her kitchen, and Hom-Lee has never done it before."

"All right dad, probably see you before you go home?"

The elder panda gave his son small nod and a big smile.

"Hey, Dad...Thanks for coming all the way, I really appreciate it. It's just adding the extra icing on the cake." Po clutched his dad in his arms and almost immediately Li reciprocated. Tigress just marveled at the scene before her. Before she realized, Li tugged her wrist and joined her into a double snuggle panda style. "Tigress, thank you for making my son the happiest panda in the world."

With that, Tigress and Po went back to their house. It was weird to imagine she would have to spend the rest of the day with her panda without snickering from the rest of the Five or sudden ambush from Shifu - who was a master in stealth mode. Including Zheng, the palace messenger who likely interrupted them at the most critical moment.

Po made his move to the kitchen, preparing 'light' dinner. Lei Lei and Bao bunked at the Jade Palace since they turn 15, so the two rooms upstairs were empty at the moment. But with the baby's arrival on the agenda, Po had to think about moving the nursery to one of the room, and the other one he would leave it for his dad to stay during his visit.

Tigress watched her husband moving skilfully in fluid action between chopping, tossing the ingredients, occasional singing and tasting the food. _'He looks so hot when cooking. What? Is Po hot? Tigress, brace yourself, that's absurd!'_.

Po acknowledging a pair of eyes had been watching him intently without uttering a word, he placed the steam bun inside the cooker, simmered the soup and quickly jumped over to sit on the couch with his wife.

"Ti, what's wrong? You hardly said anything since we were back home. Are you not feeling well?"

Tigress slowly shook her head. As the day come to an end, she grew weary on the prospect of leaving. She secretly wished that this wasn't a dream. _'Wait! What was I thinking? I should be glad when all these deliria get done and over with.'_

"Something bothering you? Was it... the baby? Was it the fact you couldn't train for a while?" Po placed her paw carefully on her growing belly while his other arm was resting on the tiger's shoulder. Tigress hadn't been too conscious that she was carrying another person inside her, the concept was still somewhat alien to her. Being in such proximity with the bear, sent tingling sensation down her spine. Dare she admitted she kind of enjoyed it. She rested her back on his chest, inhaling his scent and devouring the warm, soft and ample figure behind her. She even berated herself for not feeling any slight grievance with the prospect of staying out of the Training Hall for the next half a year.

"Po..., do you trust me?" Po flinched at the question realizing those not exactly a statement that begging for an answer.

"Oh c'mon Ti, you know my answer better than that." Tigress moved her body so she could come face to face with the panda. "Po, would you believe me if I said, I am not the Tigress from this present world...I am from the past."

The bear bewildered for a few seconds but seemed to comprehend the matter of the case. "Is that the reason why you've been acting weird all day?"

The Tiger nodded hesitantly.

"Did... did you... enjoyed it... being with me?"

She confirmed her agreement with a small nod.

"Good..." He sighed in relief.

"Is this... a dream?" Tigress voiced her concern. Po met her on the eyes while stroking her cheek with one of his paws.

"I think it's a possibility. It depends, I guess..."

Tigress looked increasingly worried. She averted her gaze to the floor - not that there was anything interesting there to look.

"Really? you think all these... could happen?" She questioned him doubtfully. Tigress didn't even discern why she even wished _this_ life could transpire into a reality.

Po gently cupped her cheek, turning her focus to him. His jade eyes met her sunset orbs.

"Well...I'll be here for you, Tigress. I am not going anywhere... I am waiting for _'us'_ to happen." He smiled warmly.

"What should I do when I get back?" She asked.

Her husband was deep in thought for a while. Then a smile bloomed on his muzzle.

"When the time come, just give me _that_ chance to love you. And when I failed, please don't give up on me."

She looked at his comforting gaze. She was certain that her panda had grown in wisdom and character through the years. She still saw the same jovial, carefree bear that she fell in love with, but now there was something more, another side of him that started to grew in her. He was wiser and more thoughtful than ever. _'Wait, did she just admit she fell in love? Where does that come from?'_

"Now, let us eat... what about at our very special place?" The panda interjected her string of rumination.

Tigress had a clear idea where Po was going to take her. They packed up a little picnic and head down to Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. Arriving at the tree, Tigress took a minute to explore the village below. Nothing seemed to change through the years, the view of the land below still as amazing as she depicted in her mind - the cascading stars glittered under the clear black sky and the warm of lantern glowing from each dwelling. She inhaled the scent of late spring blossom, letting herself relax.

"Do you know that this place is very special to us?" Po prompted his wife as he sat down casting his sight over the valley below. He absently took one steam bun and handed over to Tigress.

"I'm all ears." She retorted, thanking him for the steam bun and began eating.

"This tree witnessed a lot of things that happen between us. Not just during your time, but between your time to my time."

Tigress looked up to watch the majestic ancient tree. Even if its petal laid bare in winter months, the skeletal limbs still grandly stretching as far as touching the heaven. The tree somehow offered a calming solace to her troubled spirit. She often came here when she had a nightmare, or when Shifu had been extremely harsh on her training. She also reminisced that countless of time she and the panda had a heart to heart conversation under the tree. It had been a silent witness to numerous tears and joy, countless dreams that failed and revived, lot's of friendship that was broken and rekindled, and myriad or regrets and encouragement that had been said.

"Care to elaborate?" questioned the Tiger.

Po sighed at the sight as he was looking up watching its branch swayed gently in the wind.

"It was here... that we sat on our first date, shared our first kiss, and most importantly here was where that life changing decision took place. I dared myself to propose you... to be my wife, to mine and mine only... and you said _'yes'_ " He knelt again, mimicking the motion when he first proposed her. Tigress couldn't curb her smile. It was such a heartwarming thing to learn her future wasn't as bleak as her past.

"Tigress..." He stood up, took her paw to his.

"Yes, Po?" She turned her attention to the panda.

"Do you... do you loved me?" The question caught Tigress off guard. She was his wife. She fixed her eyes to the bear next to her studying him carefully.

"Of course, why did you ask...? I am your wife remember?"

He snickered softly. "Well, the Tigress sat in front of me never agreed to marry me yet...But I am glad you said that." Tigress didn't know why those words came so easily in her current world. She knew she always felt the same about Po, but the words normally just stalled down her throat. She questioned herself in silence. _'Did I just told him, I love him?'_

"Would you do me a favor?" The bear implored.

"What is it, Po?"

"When you returned to your world and your time, tell the other Po the same thing you told me just now would you?"

Tigress let a small laugh. "When the time is right Po, I will let him know."

"Promise...?"

"Promise!"

They chatted until late at night. Po did most of the talking, and Tigress just giggled or laughed in response. They were laying there watching the stars in each other embrace until Tigress accidentally fell asleep. Po noticed his wife had lulled into a deep slumber, he couldn't resist but admiring her peaceful face under the moonlight. _'She is as beautiful as the first time I met her.'_

He picked her up bridal style, careful enough so she didn't wake up. He walked down to their house and deposited her down on their bed.

"Goodnight Ti, I love you."

* * *

Tigress awoke to the sound of the gong. She had slept well yet again. She quickly scanned her surroundings. 'No panda.' She was back at her old room in the student barrack. She heard a gentle snoring from the room across hers. She exhaled pensively, not entirely sure whether she should be overjoyed that she was back, or sad to know she had abandoned the previous life she left behind. She sat on her bed attempting to meditate. Then she remembered her what the Po told her last night. Out of a sudden, the gong rang. Tigress leaped up from her bed to the door to greet her master. She eyes soon met with the panda's who was still yawning. She mentally congratulated her friend who made it before the gong.

"Morning, Master." All six said in unison.

"Dragon Warrior, I will be at an official meeting. You and Master Tigress will be sparring together and working together in the valley." Tigress stared at the panda, she had something in her mind but decided it could wait.

"Ready?" she prompted. To her surprise, the panda said no.

"I was thinking of asking something of you." He replied in deep reluctance. But Tigress knew he was serious.

"What is that?" She said curiously.

"Would you like to go out? You know, for a meal or something. Just you and me." The bear asked shyly. Tigress noticed how nervous the panda was, as he twiddled his thumb and squirmed where he stood. She was quiet momentarily, relating to what happened last night. She smiled inwardly contemplating the word ' _the other Po'_ told her.

"Po, are you asking me on a date?" She clarified. He haltingly nodded as he blushed furiously. Tigress mentally shouted for joy, but of course being a master of self-control, she made sure Po couldn't read her emotions. She let a small smile erupted on her muzzle.

"Yes, I'll go with you on a date." She saw Po's eye widened in disbelief, which she thought rather cute. "...after we spar." She continued and threaded down the corridor.

"Of course!" He answered quickly and caught up with her.

"What made you want to ask me now?" She questioned him. She wondered whether it had anything to do with her dream last night.

The panda in question was just showing a bemused smile.

"When I woke up happy." He replied.


	3. Perfect for me

I don't own KFP. This casual conversation between Po and Tigress set up after the third movie. We assume that they are a couple by now. To give a little bit background event that they discuss in this story:

s/7044919/4/Yin-and-Yang

s/7688200/1/Adolescence

s/7571748/1/Starry-Night

s/11095145/1/An-Evening-in-the-Bamboo-Forest

s/5060484/1/What-any-of-us-would-have-done

And I thought I share one of the sweetest quotes I read

* * *

 _We all have our scars from loving someone too deeply. From wanting to protect someone too much._

 _\- Mei Tachibana, Say I Love You_

* * *

The night was clear, crisp and starry. The sky glowed in strange luminance with thousand diamond-like stars studded the sky. Upon the edge of the clearing within nearby forest, two warriors, laid facing the universe while adoring the mystery it beheld. They were on duo mission to see Master's Council in Gongmen City. The blazing ember danced vigorously, a mere few feet away from the tent. The sound of crackling wood, serenading crickets, bellowing feral animal, rustling leaves in the wind - reverberating on the background as a sweet lullaby.

"What a perfect night." Po looked up and gave a dreamy sigh, a deep hint of infatuation in his voice.

"Indeed." answered a lustrous female voice. "Just looking at it makes me feels relaxed, and calm…. I can do this forever".

"Master Tigress relaxing?….. Now….. That's news." He snickered sardonically to the figure next to him who just laid there didn't seem to take notice.

"It's weird to lay here just two of us watching the celestial drama, hearing the sound of the crickets and rustling of the wind."

"Are you saying you miss the rest of the Five disturbing our private moment? Or maybe wanting Shifu spying on us? Or interruption from particular goose messenger who always comes at the wrong time? Or a particular bug and primate stalker that fired never ending jester if we were getting being a bit mushy?" Po scoffed incredulously.

"No, I am not complaining Po." Her voice remained leveled. Po observed her as the soft glow of the moonlight cast incredible radiance on her sunset fur.

"It's astounding how universe…. works; you would never second guess." She continued staring at the sky.

"I don't get it, what do you mean?" The panda muttered.

She pointed her paw to the sky. "You know, those stars are always there, even during the day. But the bright sunlight made us unable to admire their beauty until the night falls. I sometimes felt my attitude towards my life and destiny a little bit like that."

He blinked. 'Since when Tigress sounded mellow and sentimental?'

"Tigress…. you know you always be the smart-ass, hardcore, and the awesome one. You had to speak in simple terms to me, not in parables or figurative story." The panda grumbled. He heard a faint chuckle as a reply."Are you sure Dragon Warrior? You are the one that vanquished China most feared enemy single-handedly. Now...that's was pretty hardcore." She mimicked the tone she spoke to him back in Gongmen fiasco.

The bear never ceased to make Tigress bewildered in wonderment. Behind his accident-prone, clumsy stubby body, and habitual bad posture, Po was the nation's most prized heroes. Despite losing almost every spar with her and often purposefully humiliating himself, Po would just replicate the most intricate Kung Fu moves that took years for other to master to discern, like inner peace, golden lotus clap, or Wuxi finger hold. He just came to it almost as effortlessly as wallowing dumpling inside his throat.

"I don't tend to think with my head." He mumbled flatly.

Tigress amused at his response."Let's hope your belly can help. After all, we just ate our dinner; I am sure your stomach is capable of concentrating." She said impishly.

Both of them laugh.

"Po, had you ever thought about how _bodacious_ warrior have you become from this recent year? I mean, a few years ago you were an adopted son of a goose, a noodle maker….and then you were chosen Dragon Warrior, the next thing happened - you defeated a warrior that dedicated his life to master thousand Kung Fu scroll with just one day of training."

"Tigress, you know that _is_ an extreme exaggeration. You are my girlfriend, and I expect you know better." He replied with rather miffed tone. "There is a lot of...ermmm... element of luck in there, it just so happened Tai Lung nerve attack doesn't work on my, so call - _awesomeness_."

"And then the rise of the demented peacock who desired to rule over China, You've single-handedly overcome dozen of cannons aimed at you." She bantered.

"That's because a certain feline who sacrificed herself to save me." He crossed his arm pretending to be dejected. Tigress landed a small playful punch on his arm.

"Hey, it's true!" He insisted while rubbing his arm.

"Then comes the Kai, the formidable collector of chi who was searching for vengeance, again you've successfully banished him to Spirit Realm." She reciprocated.

"That was because of all of you... were behind me, all the pandas and you - you've lent me your chi. Otherwise, I won't be here." He replied defensively.

Tigress refused his excuse. "Po, you don't have to be humble forever and never acknowledged any of your achievement, Master Oogway chose you as Dragon Warrior because he saw something in you."

There was a saying that real heroes are not born, they are made. Tigress was no doubt one of the most exemplary warriors in her generation, thanks to the hardcore training, rigid regime and plenty dose of self-discipline. Unfortunately, what mold her into a perfect warrior also served as a double-edged sword when it came to be a hero. Tigress would become a distant and cold one.

Then came Po, who was nothing like a quintessential warrior. But his unconventional upbringing had endowed him with just the thing she or her comrades never possessed. He was affectionate, amiable, approachable, kind-hearted and gentle. He treated other with great care and humility. A lot of things in him are a great mystery to Tigress. While she fervently believed that trust was never be granted but earned, Po, on the other hand, would instantly trust and forgave anyone. His traits together with his eagerness to learn Kung Fu had made him a hero at his own merit.

"Well, to me it's not important how others see me." The panda finally broke up the repose between them.

"I mean, I love Kung Fu and such, and being Dragon Warrior had done a great deal to me. I got a chance to do awesome adventures with Furious Five, learned super awesome moves, protecting people and all. It satisfied me to be able to protect others, sorta - giving a life purpose... y'know. But that's not the reason I like the way I am now." He retorted.

"Care to explain?"

He sighed,"... my real motive of being a Kung Fu master isn't as noble as you think, you knew I had a crush on you long ago. When I arrived in Jade Palace, I thought I might have a chance at least to be your friend. That's why I try hard to train, to defeat Tai Lung, to _impress_ you." Tigress was incredulous for a few prolonged second by his admittance. Then he went on. "Then you called me _Master_ , but you only respected me because I defeated someone you couldn't. That's pained me. I want to earn your trust as a friend,... I want something more ...personal."

"Is that why you gave me your Dragon Scroll? to be my friend?" She blinked.

"Yeah,... anyway in my mind…. it had never been mine, it never meant anything to me. In fact, I was scared of my destiny as Dragon Warrior to defeat Tai Lung; it's almost like signing my death warrant." The tiger threw a sympathetic glance at her panda. It was reasonable if Po was apprehensive about his destiny, even Shifu was precarious about the whole idea of a panda who didn't know Kung Fu - beating his most prized student.

"To me, that scroll, that title, was always yours….., you work hard for it since you were a cub, dedicated your life to it. It's no wonder your form was always perfect. You are awesome, bold, graceful..-"

"Po, I know when the first time I met you - I thought you are practically worshiping the ground I was on. You even madly intended to keep the rubble-remnant of my split kick weren't you?" The Tiger crossed her arm and narrowed her eyes.

"I still got that thing you know." He chortled proudly.

Tigress blinked. "Really? You care about a piece of rubble but not the Dragon Warrior title?"

"And now that you are mine, I can care less about that scroll, my title or whatever Kung Fu council decides to give or take away. I mean I enjoyed being a hero and all, but it's just an icing on the cake." He said with as-matter-of-factly tone.

Tigress knew the panda collected a lot of memorabilia from his mission for sentiment sake. Something like the dragon costume they used as a decoy in Gongmen, or the pan that used to fight jombified version of Shifu back in Panda Village, the wok he used to beat Tai Lung, and those were just to mention a few. The panda seemed to have a spiritual connection with all this 'treasure' of his. She assumed the Dragon Scroll was one of the most he treasured, yet he surrendered it to her without paying a second thought.

"Thanks Po, that's really sweet." A smiled formed on her muzzle. "With my flaring temperament, I wondered why you even wish to be my friend. You are one of the few who still hang around me and don't mind being a punching bag."

Po's replied with a husky chuckle. "Oh, that. Well yeah, I used to be scared like hell... Even just your vexed look, I could feel that you had skinned me alive and turned me into your bedroom rug." Tigress joined his gale of laugher. "Yes, I recalled one time I was so annoyed you humiliated me in Training Hall, I stabbed the innocent tofu on my plate thinking that it was your head. And you still asking me to train with you the next day as your death wish."

"Yeah, I remember Mantis said he need a bunch of acupuncture needle to prepare the aftermath." The panda sat up and grabbed a stick and began to stroke the ground with its tip. He wrote the word 危機 Crisis.

"You taught me to write this, remember? The word Crisis consist of the same character as 危 danger and 機 a chance or opportunity. That what I saw when I am facing you." Tigress look bemused, but deep down she was deeply impressed.

"Your writing getting good, Panda."

"Well, I've learned from the best" He bragged pompously. He started rummaging his pack for a snack. He revealed two steam bun and offering one to the feline next to him.

"Midnight snack?"

"I am glad; you had never given up on me…. on us, no matter how heartless I was to you sometimes." She said with remorseful tone. Po remembered most of his life he had not many friends and frequently being pushed around, not that he chose to. Unlike Tigress who had reclusive nature, Po by far was a social creature. His endearment for companionship and acceptance of others clearly define his being.

"I remembered a lot of girls told me no one will ever love a fat panda." He admitted.

"Well, those girls certainly missing out something, now that you are Dragon Warrior and every girl in the country flocked around you, too bad you stuck with me panda, and I am not going to share you with anyone." Her voice was not necessarily compassionate, but also held no annoyance.

"Not that I want to. I get the better side of the deal getting such a bodaciously beautiful girlfriend."

Tigress scoffed. "Thanks Po, but I am not beautiful. I am covered with scars - even though I proud of them, no man will share my sentiment unless they were warriors themselves. Most men dreamt of having dainty, feminine woman who cooks and excellent at executing house chore. I am nothing like that, I can't cook, knew nothing about house chores, let alone raising kids. I was even mistaken for a man a few time." Po knew the incident far too well. Once was Crane's mom which Tigress didn't take notice as much, but the next one came from his panda dad, in which Tigress had a moment of losing her confidence. He captured her paw in attempted to console her troubled spirit and as his fingertips explore the back of her paw. He recognized every bare patch, bump, and dip along her tough skin.

"Tigress, I don't care how everyone else saw them as blemishes, imperfections, or marks on an otherwise your perfect body, your scars made you beautiful. It defines who you are. Each scar told us of a story; it was a sacrifice, something you had chosen to take for the sake of someone else, like that one on your torso, that would remind you of... me, you took that blow for me in Gongmen." He moved his stick again, this time he wrote the word 虛榮 (vanity) which separate into 虛 false 榮 glory. Tigress maw curled into a gentle smile. Her panda certainly knew the best way into her heart.

The next night, they were set afloat in the boat on the way to Gongmen City. The night wasn't as clear as it was yesterday. The thick blanket of cloud hovering up the sky, repressing audacity of any stars in the sky. Tigress sat quietly on the dock watching the fog that forming right below her eye level, until she heard a gentle voice.

"Tigress…."

"Yes?"

"Do you thik, if we had a normal family. Y'know, mom and dad… brother and sister and such - instead of being an orphan, our destiny would be…. somewhat…..different?"

Tigress turned her head to him. Her amber eyes were gazing gently before she turned back looking to the sky above.

"I am sure our path will cross somewhere Po. But whether or not we would be ….with each other I am not sure off." Her statement almost tickled his eardrum, but piercing through his heart.

She shut her eyes, mentally bringing all the sensation of how it felt like to owned a family - complete family, proper mother and father, the warmth of a home, perhaps a mother embrace? A father goodnight kiss? Or someone who stood by her encouraging and telling her they were proud of her no matter what.

"If I have a typical family I guess I won't be hundred percent dedicated to my Kung Fu, I won't punch ironwood trees nor keen to attempt to numb my emotion. I won't be Tigress the hardcore; I would know what is it like to love and to be loved in return, I might end up being a feminine nonsense, wearing dresses every day and looking painfully dainty."

Po laughed inside at that mental image of Tigress in a skirt and dared he added some make-up? Or probably she could be a better cook than him. "That doesn't sound bad. I know you look good on anything." He wagged his eyebrows teasingly, placing his paw to cover his snout, obscuring his bemuse expression.

She huffed and pinched his arm playfully until he winced. "That's for teasing the master of Hardstyle." She's retaliating with an evil grin.

"You probably are going to be a hell of house-wife goddess, being an excellent cook, and taking care of husband… not to mention brave and looking drop-dead-gorgeous. God forbid - there even might be not a distant possibility that every man in China was going to worship you." He replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"You would seriously like me to be like that?" She frowned apprehensively, not entirely sure whether Po secretly hoped that's true or he was just provoking her. The idea of staying at home, cooking, looking after the kids (not that she doesn't love kids), running errands, dusting, mopping the floor, doing chores and pleasing husband at night sounded like a very mundane outlook of life.

"Nah…. a lot of girls are like that, that what make you special - you are not like any other girl." He said lacing his voice with deep sincerity. Evidently, although Tigress may not be feminine and all, Po still considered her as a stripe goddess of all things hardcore and kungfu-ey.

"And you, Dragon Warrior. You will end up in Panda Village….. you don't have to dishonor your arranged marriage to Mei mei, marry her and have a houseful of cute panda cubs, and teach them Kung Fu and lived happily ever after." Tigress rebutted.

"And you - Master Tigress - might end up with a muscular, handsome Tiger hunk." He taunted giving the tiger a mischievous gaze.

She snarled in return. By now she knew this kind of conversation wouldn't change anything between them. "You know me well Dragon Warrior."

On the mention of the good looking tiger, her memory recollected a shameful event from the back of her mind. "I-I had never told this to anyone." She stammered. "But when I was 16, I was caught red handed by Master Shifu having an intimate time with a pillow fantasizing it was a handsome, athletic tiger Kung Fu master!"

"Seriously?" Po's eye widened in disbelief.

"Yes, I was ever so embarrassed…." Tigress mentally face-palmed herself for spilling the beans - truly unnecessary.

"And you telling me this now…." Po restrained himself not to explode in series of boisterous laughter. He hastily brought both of his paws to his muzzle, worrying his fate would end in demise should his tiger capture him mocking her confession. "And what happen to that dream? does that muscular-and-handsome-tiger-style warrior had turn into a big and tubby and cuddly Panda?

"You sound like the wolf boss."(**reference to KFP2 in the jail, Wolf boss called Po cuddly and plushy) A wide smile came upon her muzzle. She was bemused with Po's comedic expression.

"Tigress, did you remember we ever discuss our first crush?" Po chuckled evilly. Tigress nearly choked on her saliva. "You mean Mrs. Xiang? the seamstress twice your age that always brought you cookies?"

"Yeap…. and then you are my next one". Po stared at the sky dreamily.

"I am not sure that's serve as a complement." She replied dryly, rolling her eyes and crossing her arm. "I can't see how Mrs. Xiang and I share any similarities other than being female." She snorted, pretend to be gobsmacked.

"Hang on your thought there, your first crush was Master Shifu and then me, are you telling me we both alike? Geezzz… I felt rather….. thrilled!" The panda replied satirically while trying not to insult his big-eared Master. "By the way, he is three times older than us, so Mrs. Xiang is a better contender."

"Master Shifu's ears cuter than yours, panda."

Another peal of laughter erupted. Po turned himself to his side, his jade orbs looking intensely - adoring the beautiful, slender warrior beside him who was still admiring the sky with its glory, not that there was anything particularly interesting in the sky since it was cloudy. The thought just occurred again to him.

There he was - THE big fat panda who was courting Master Tigress, albeit coming nothing close to handsome, muscular attractive Tiger Master. His heroine, his first and foremost crush, the girl of his dream that he only dare to worship from distant years ago - actually had loved him in return. If this were a dream, he would be glad never to wake up.

"You are right Tigress. I would never understand the mystery of the universe…." He laid on his back and gently hold Tigress's paw.

"Even if I had a chance to be born in a typical family, I would never trade that for what I have now." She squeezed his paw. "For once I feel my life is complete, and all of my sorrowful past has become a bittersweet memory that binds us. Being an orphan is what makes us understand each other…. you know what lonely feels, what rejection means, and we both have times when we doubt who we are."

Po agreed with her. Truthfully, betwixt so many differences they shared one - or maybe two commonalities. If above was the first most important thing that bound them together, the second one must be their love and passion for Kung Fu. All the conflicting emotion ignited and stirred on one particular mission in Gongmen, in which currently they were heading to (albeit not for the same dangerous mission), nevertheless just reciting the name 'Gongmen' managed to pull back memories which otherwise he tried to push behind the corner of his mind.

"Tigress?"

"Yes."

"Why did you hug me back in the jail in Gongmen?"

She glanced at her panda quizzically at first, and soon transformed into a crestfallen look. Recollection of that mission was not the fondest of all. Seeing Tigress deeply inflicted, Po regretted his question.

"Y-you don't have to answer that y'know. I am just curious."

"No, that's ok. I know…. I knew I had to stop you seeing Shen. But on the back of my mind, I realized you are dying to know your history and what had happened to your family, no matter how bitter it was. I tried to tell you…. convinced you…. that even my hardcore-self understood how that must feel. But obviously, your curiosity got the best of you." She replied mournfully with a look that clearly portrayed betrayal.

"Tigress, I am so sorry for not listening to you. I knew I failed you; I tore your soul apart thinking that I am dead." No doubt Po was remorseful on his action, but if the past repeated itself, he was certain he would again relent to his own inquisitiveness to find out his past.

"That's ok Po. I guess it's part of your destiny. Should you never been blown by that cannon, you won't meet the soothsayer and found out about the truth behind your past."

"But there is one more reason why I hugged you back then… I had never told this to you before".

Po frowned and raised his brows. "Really?"

"After escaping from that tower and seeing so many cannons aiming at us, nearly trapped and smoldered alive inside that collapsing palace. It came to me, the extent of what are we were dealing with, and how dangerous that mission could be. Before leaving the jail, I thought that…. that might be my _last_ mission." Her muscles were started to tense up, recalling the memory of the gruesome battle. "I might never come back to see you ever again." Her amber orbs staring at him with a fiery passion as her voice began to quiver.

Po gently stroked her paw gently, as if to alleviate her spirit to keep going. "So that hug was the way I said….goodbye." Her eyes began to well with tears. She closed her eyes in futile attempt to withhold its load from falling.

After prolong moment of recess, Tigress felt a black paw wiping her wet cheek, and there was a warm feeling as big furry arm made its way behind her neck and her torso almost protectively, pulling her closer to his robust body.

"Tigress, I want you to know, even when I can't ever promise you that I will never do what I did… and even if I had to let go of my life, I would never let go of you." Po heard her faint muffled sobs. It seemed like his explanation made the matter bad to worse. There was a pang of guilt of why he had to bring up such harrowing topics.

"Tigress, let us not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow takes care of itself. Even if I get a chance to be with you just a day….. to live knowing you are well aware I care for you and you care for me in return, it would be well worth it."

And after a few minutes of embrace, she'd calmed down. Po's words and his touch had a strange soothing effect on her. She observed the panda with genuine admiration. This was the man she would ever falling in love with, who despite his juvenile attitude, klutziness, he was a mighty warrior in both strength and his conviction, carrying peace and compassion as his mission. And with such sincerity and pureness of heart, he assured her that it was ok to be herself. That the emotions she deemed as weaknesses was actually her strength.

Yes, Po had once taken her dream, her everything, but then the panda had given her a new purpose in life. A new meaning that far more satisfying than kung-fu scrolls or titles.

"Po, do you remember we used to climb the roof of the barrack to look at the star?" Tigress broke the silence between the two.

"Um… yeah! We played a game to spot star formation!" He answered excitedly. "Shall we played again now?"

"Of course."

"Now that look like the dagger of Deng-Hua." He said.

"I have no idea how dagger of Deng-Hua looked like." She chuckled incredulously. "Are you sure you are not making that up?"

"No, I don't! Look, if you see that blue star there, and draw a line to the side, and down, and that gold star there is the handle." He pretended to be offended.

Tigress squinted her eyes, not able to see any form of cleaver anywhere.

"I saw a dumpling!" She pointed out, and move her hand in the circular motion. Po just snickered "I think that my panda appetite starts to rub on you."

She crackled. "Yes I remembered you spot a bok choy, and I had difficulties locating one - I am convinced that was a mere fragment of your stupendous hunger."

"Yes, that was fun…. although, I recalled you've always played this game alone when you are a cub". His face fell imagining what she'd been through as a cub. "I wished I could have met you earlier so I could accompany you playing this game."

Tigress just paid him a gentle smile. "Don't worry Dragon Warrior. I would make sure you always accompany me from now own. Better late than never."

"You are right, Tigress."

"About what?"

"About those stars, they are like the mysteries of the universe that would only be revealed in its time - at night."

He sighed. "You know, I told you I admired you from afar since I was a teenager. I was a mere son of a noodle maker. I had never thought my dream of becoming a Kung Fu master ever materialize, let alone to be with my heroine. How on earth we ended up together...was beyond me. We are just….. just…. so different, so distant. You are beautiful, brave, smart and you are a tiger…. could end up with me who is fat, clumsy and childish Panda. It's a mystery how we can even be together."

"Po…."

"Never in a million years I thought I deserve you."

"Po…"

"Even for a second, if Tai Lung had never turns bad - he had better chance to date you than me."

"PO….. I rather date monkey's tail than Tai Lung!". She interjected, crossing her arm with disdainfully. But her mood quickly mollified as she saw the panda she loved staring with a remorseful look of on his face. She sat down, her back leaning against the tree trunk behind her and gestured Po to do the same.

"Po, we had this conversation before. We well-deserved each other. You are Dragon Warrior, a Kung Fu prodigy. You had vanquished villains that the Five combined could not defeat. Although… that's not the reason I am falling for you."

"Uh-huh." He muttered.

"Do you remember your first _'accident'_ Po? When someone hurt your dad, and you acted in defense." Po went pale. He could vividly recite that particular event Tigress mentioned. He was acting out of deterrence to protect his dad and forced to make his first kill.

He knew anyone else would act the same way. However, it didn't stop guilty feeling culminating in his heart.

She saw his anguished expression and quickly appended. "I did the same thing before but was able to move on just a few days later, while you carried the guilt with you until today. This just had proven my point - how our differences help us to support each other."

Tigress was a creature of logic, she reasoned her every action, while the panda was full of compassion and carried his benevolence wherever he went. Po was grateful - at those tormenting moment when he was in emotional wreck - Tigress was there, kept him sane by offering him much needed comfort by defying all his emotion with her rationale.

"We have our differences - but those what make you perfect for me. I am short tempered, and you are patient. I think with my head, and you think with your heart. I don't easily trust anyone; you try to see the best in people. You even ready to forgive Shen - he murdered your family and your race!….. but that what I admire about you, Po. I am fearless, but you are heroic."

She sighed and continued. "And if you need one more reason. You can well step down from being the Dragon Warrior, or a Kung Fu master, and I would love you just the same… Because you are Po Ping, the love of my life. You're worth everything to me, Po. And -"

"...you are perfect for me." She concluded.

He found her gaze, only to see truthfulness. He could stare into those fiery eyes to no end. With that a few wet drops rolled down from his furry cheeks, he didn't even bother to hide it. Master Tigress was just admitting that she loved him for who he is. Although he heard those powerful words many time before by now, he still treasured each and every time as if it were the first. And with that, he felt sudden eruption of determination to train harder, be a better Kung Fu master, stronger warrior, so he could protect her and keep her safe.

"And what makes you think I deserve you, Dragon Warrior? All I did was to resent you, being mean and hurtful, not realizing that you never care about title Oogway had given you… you never deliberately intended to take my dream away. I continued torturing your soul, leaving you alone and saying awful things." Her thoughts scolded her.

"I made you work hard to proof yourself and to gain my trust. While most of other people had left me for such treatment, instead - you forgave me…., even before I asked you. My mistake was beyond just being fat and clumsy. I am imperfect in many ways." She took another long breath trying to suppress her own frustration.

Po's signature smiled emerged on his face. He slowly moved his paw and gently squeezed hers in an attempt to alleviate her spirit.

"There is a wise saying y'know, _The more you hide your feelings, the more they show. The more you deny your feelings, the more they grow._ Possibly you had a feeling for me a long time back. You just didn't know it." He chuckled teasingly.

The feline turned her head meeting his eyes. As Po found her gaze, there was a slight element of surprise. "Gosh, you do sound like Oogway." And she let a small yawn.

"I think time for me to hit the hay, tomorrow would be another long day. Good night my Dragon Warrior". She gave him a quick kiss on his cheek that made the Dragon Warrior blushed pink. He watched her as she crawled into her tent. He smiled and recounted his blessing all over again.

'Tigress, you might be imperfect, but you are perfect for me.'

Years come and by, both warriors soon sealed their relationship and made an eternal promise to one another not long after. As they climbed through their marriage years, one anniversary after the other.

The fondness and their affection towards each other never falter, dare people said even grew more over the years. They were blessed with cubs and adopted a few more, the Kung Fu family expanded and multiplied as their comrades followed their footsteps. Tigress never suspected that the panda who had fallen from the sky would change the most hardcore warrior in all China in loving wife and mother. Moreover making her, the master of hardstyle, in all her flaws and imperfection, capable of being a perfect companion a Dragon Warrior could ever ask for.


	4. Sleeping In

SLEEPING IN

KFP owned by Dreamworks :-)

There really are places in the heart you don't even know exist until you love a child. —Anne Lamott

To be in your children's memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today. —Barbara Johnson

The value of marriage is not that adults produce children, but that children produce adults. —Peter De Vries

* * *

A streak of bright sunlight shone in through a gap in between the curtains. The sound of birds chirped noisily outside as if updating each other with the latest gossip. There was a sudden yell of gong resounding across the horizon, exasperating anyone's ears in proximity, alarming the imminent demise should the student failed to respond to its demand.

All, except for two. The two figures were still nicely huddling under their warm blanket, snuggling comfortably against each other. The Warriors seemed to be able to ignore the call of the gong, which should be ingrained in their blood and bone like a second nature by now. Especially when the consequences of being late was a humiliating punishment given by their nasty diminutive master, who enjoyed witnessing such tortures. Although since they were married, Tigress and Po had left the student barracks and lived in a small cottage behind the bath house, nothing would suppress the sound of the gong. Nothing but one.

Both Po and Tigress indeed heard the sound of the alarm, but they were too tired to notice. Until…

"Raaaaaaaaa..."

Po was the first to stir after hearing the dissonance. Tigress instead pulled her pillow and buried her head underneath it in a futile attempt to muffle the sound.

Po sat up and gently shook his wife's shoulder, who had her back facing him.

"Ti... I think the baby is waking up."

He only heard a faint muttered as her answer. "Just let him cry another 5 minute, Po."

After three months living with a particular infant in their house, Po and Tigress knew those 5 minutes wait wasn't going to change anything, just desperately trying to buy them time devouring the much-needed rest they craved for.

The panda laid back down on their bed and desperately tried to ignore angry-wordless-yell from the annoyed occupant next door. He scrunched up some papers by his bedroll and stuffed into his ears.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..."

"I don't think it works Ti." The panda turned to his wife again, feeling somewhat frustrated, but both still reluctant to leave the comfort of their bed.

 _'Why does not baby have a mute button or better still off button!'_ Po thought to himself.

 _'I wondered whether other parents who had been cajoling me to have a baby were just trying to get even.'_ Tigress mentally noted to herself.

Tigress let a faint mewl as she stretched herself on their bed, and turned to the small bedside desk to check on a special blackboard. It was written there : Tiger = |||| Panda =|||

"It's your turn _panda_ ," She said briefly and laid back down on her bed, with a winning smirk as she gladly met her slumber.

"Dang it." her husband grumbled under his breath.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...RAAAAAA..." His roar was undoubtedly letting certain ire of fury - knowing his parents were ignoring him. Po inwardly blamed it on Tigress as their baby looked, and sounded more like her than him. He always valued himself as the calm and mild one. However, Tigress would say the same about the baby's appetite, which had left her many sleepless nights to comfort his growing hunger. Lacking of certain features made her husband unable to help her fed the baby. (*There is no bottle in 13th century ancient China, in case you are wondering).

He stood up, scouring for his pants from the floor, wore his bedroom slipper, and make a heavy trudge towards the bedroom next door. Just as Tigress eyelids finally dropped, she heard her husband exclaimed.

"OH NO! Ti... helped me!"

She instinctively jumped from her bedroll and rushed into her husband's side, ignoring the fact that her qipao not even secured properly, her fur was a mess, and she had lost one of her bedroom slippers.

"He soiled his nappy around the bed... _again_!" Po sighed in desperation, looking at the crib of his cub that practically smeared with awful smelling substance.

"That's the 5th time I changed the bed and wiped it with hot water since last night, and we have not even made it to noon time." She reciprocated dejectedly. She expeditiously cleaned up her son's bed while Po stuck the cub in the sink in an attempt to give him a quick bath.

"Are you sure you've put the nappy the right way round Dragon Warrior?" She became suspicious that the whole 'waking at night' ordeal was avoidable. Noticing his wife attempting to shift the blame the panda retorted. "Yes, positive!" He said firmly. Po swore he could even do it blindfolded. "It's not much different than wrapping dumpling." He said absently.

Po placed the cub on their bed while assisting his wife to sterilize his cub's bed. After done doing so, Tigress went to her bed to check on the cub. And Po went to the kitchen to attempt to make a quick breakfast.( notice keyword, ' _attempt_ '!)

"Oh noooo!... Po!"

The panda dazed from the kitchen back to his bedroom, completely ignoring his pursuit of making a quick breakfast for him and his wife.

"He just soiled and even got sick on our bed..." She exhaled in exasperation, looking at the prospect cleaning their bed.

"Ok, don't panic, let's just rest him on the couch, and we'll take him to the healers straight away." Po wisely advised.

"You are right Po. I think he might be poorly". His wife replied.

Po and Tigress repeated the process as their cleaned their bed, changed the sheet, and tried to clean their baby again.

"Tigressssss! Now he had j-just d-done it o-n the couch!" Po stammered in disbelief.

"Quick, remind me again the joy of parenthood!"

* * *

Kids can be a pain in the neck when they're not a lump in your throat. —Barbara Johnson

Parents are not interested in justice; they are interested in quiet. —Bill Cosby

A child enters your home and for the next twenty years makes so much noise you can hardly stand it. The child departs, leaving the house so silent you think you are going mad. —John Andrew Holmes


	5. Hugging

Note, I don't own Kung Fu Panda, Dreamworks does :-)

HUGGING

* * *

Sometimes a silent hug is the only thing to say. ~Robert Brault

* * *

Hugging was always the thing to be associated with particular famous panda who lived in Jade Palace. The words indeed had traveled fast and wide regarding a hero who didn't quite fit with the quintessential description of a warrior. People would imagine a hero would be tall, dark, irresistibly winsome, with a broad, burly figure, square jaw, stern, deep, intimidating voice. He would have ferocious fangs that would scare the pants off his enemies, nerves of steel, soul of platinum, probably a few battle scars marking his heroic countenance, complied with bravery and boldness beyond the limit.

Instead, the panda was considerably the most peaceful creature. He was corpulent, stubby, with proud, robust belly, sheepish grin, and captivating jade eyes. Undeniably, he owned a great strength, and surprisingly abundant practical knowledge of awesome kung fu moves under his belt, but all of that was hidden under his immense weight, flabby arm, cuddly midsection and super plush body which often slouched in a bad posture.

At first, many wouldn't decipher why Oogway had chosen a panda who didn't even know kung fu as a warrior, let alone Dragon Warrior - the most accomplished warriors in his era, and eventually a hero China would depend her life upon. It hadn't become immediately apparent the idea that a panda would eventually emerge as a real hero, even to the incredulity of his own Master.

Po was kind, humble, patient and affectionate. No one would ever imagine a hero that went to fierce battle, defeating China strongest enemy, would be the same individual who offered them hugs and comfort, might even cook one's dinner, or dancing stupid moves in the festival.

But then there was Po. The panda that made himself the hero of everyone's heart. As his own words - _whether is friend or foe, no harm that a hug could do_. In fact, according to the expert himself, he had patched a few relationships by introducing this underrated little act of affection. Hugs worked like a miraculous medicine; it could cure a lot of bitterness, broken heart, hurt, and sorrow... better still, all was _free_ of charge. A hug could speak in thousand kinds of language, revealed an unspeakable feeling, uttering emotions when words incapable of expressing.

Initially, a lot of people think he loved hugging because he was a panda, expressing sentiments with physical closeness was ingrained within his blood. That's probably half of the truth, since his biological dad, Li, inclined to do the same thing. But Po blamed his habitual hugging came from his adopted father. The goose had religiously taught him the art of hugging. He would leap in joy to greet his son on every possible occasion, stretched his wings and gave him a hug although sometimes, he would also sneakily tie an apron around his son colossal waist on the motion. Yes, killing two birds with one stone, as he liked to put it. And this hugging habit was proven to be not only fixing a lot of things but also undeniably contagious. Since Po arrived at Jade Palace, everyone, even Master Shifu had been considering to join this act of strong fondness.

Everyone would think that Mr. Ping would have difficulty hugging Po as the bear had grown from a little cub into a full-size giant panda. But, in all his wisdom, Mr. Ping always quoted: _Hugs are always a perfect gift, one size fit all_. So, when Po was admitting to his dad there was something began to blossom between him and certain feline, he was there to give his son the best possible advice.

"Dad, it's Tigress birthday next week, I need to think of a plan... a gift!" Po paced back and forth in the kitchen as if he could find the answer faster while doing so.

"Son, you bought her gift for the winter festival, and then the lunar festival, and almost at every mission you went without her - you've bought her something." His dad rolled his eyes.

"That's true, Dad, but this is different... it's her birthday!" Po replied almost defensively, his jade eyes stared rather accusingly on his father's back. Mr. Ping snorted.

"I bet she had a closet full of your gift, huh?" The goose retorted sarcastically. Grabbing a cleaver, and nimbly chopping the vegetables. "What have you given her so far?" He asked inexpressibly. Po looked at his paw and started counting with his finger. "... action figure, ermmm...bracelet...necklace...Dragon scroll...another necklace...my drawing...arm bands...a set of vest... a cloak... dominoes... checkerboard...,-"

"...wait wait, that's a lot of gifts, she probably was waiting for the best gift of all." His father's eyes widened but didn't stop chopping to conceal his naked surprise. _'He must really like that girl.'_ He mentally told himself.

"You _like_ her don't you Son? I knew since you two went back from that Gongmen trip, something must have happened there." His dad enquired further, his eyes secretly tracking the panda who began to squirm uneasily.

"Yes, something did happen... but-"

"But what, Son?" The goose interjected. "...you can't live your life with buts and what if's." He reprimanded his Son rather impatiently. He felt that Po sometimes wasn't confident enough to carry himself around the striped feline. That's true. She could be quite intimidating and dominating, but for heaven's sake, Po was the Dragon Warrior. How could he comprehend, a mighty legendary warrior who had vanquished victoriously dozen of cannon assaulting him at once, wilted like lettuce in the sun when facing the girl he fancied? _'Love eh...?'_ He muttered under his breath.

"I don't know what to do Dad," Po replied helplessly. His green jade eyes were looking down to the floor in destitute.

"Son, do you love her?" His dad pressed gently, hoping for more honest answers.

"...mmm... yeah Dad, very much." He said sheepishly. Mr. Ping swore there was a tint of pink under that white fur. A smile graced his beak.

Mr. Ping approached Po who was now sitting on the stool in the middle of the kitchen, still staring down as if the floor board would give him some definite answer. He gently placed his wing on his son's arm. "So, why don't you give her _that_ , she'll like it."

Po blinked."...Woah hold on, you suggest me to kiss her or make a confession or something?" There was a potent amount of concern and surprise in his voice.

"No... no...no... that's not what I meant," Mr. Ping kept patting his son's black arm. A smile formed on his beak.

"Try something more subtle son... more subtle way to present your love." He gave him a hint.

"...uhm, yeah... but how can I,-"

"Son, you can't wrap love in the box, but you can wrap her in your hug, the effect is the same." Po turned his gaze to his dad. He raised his eyebrows still not believing what his dad suggested. "Besides, sometimes when you don't know what to say, a hug is enough."

"But she'll kick me down a thousand steps for hugging her!" He interjected into conclusion. Historically, if anyone dared to invade Tigress personal space without meeting certain demise, one could consider himself pretty special.

"Is that true? I heard you've hugged her in front of the whole comrades and even citizens of Gongmen. Did she beat you up after that?"

"...ermm... I got your point dad." He let a long sigh of defeat. He knew his dad was right.

On the day Tigress' birthday, everyone seemed to be acting as normal. When she woke up in the morning, Shifu just briefly congratulated her in the kitchen during breakfast, followed by her other cohorts. Viper was the only one who bought Tigress something, a diary. She wanted Tigress to write something sentimental inside it. Ironically, even Tigress wasn't sure how much of the pages would ever be filled by next decade.

Tigress was never a person who indulged in being the center of attention, so a surprise party, albeit just between the six of them (plus master Shifu) was never be encouraged. Before Po arrived at the Jade Palace, no one knew when her birthday was. But when he came, he practically begged Shifu to tell him in exchange for two weeks sparring with Tigress. Tigress herself never knew her birthday. So Shifu gave Po her adoption date instead, just so that the bear would quit harassing him.

That night, after dinner, Po asked Tigress to meet him by the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom.

"Hi, Po." She approached him nonchalantly. Her face was not necessarily happy, but not unkind either.

"Tigress." He reciprocated her greeting. He wore his signature goofy smile, at which the tiger just stared at him apathetically. He started to become apprehensive by the minute, asking himself whether it was wise to carry on with his plan.

"So, what would you like to discuss with me." The tiger pressed firmly, her eyes gave him a piercing, interrogating look.

"...uhm, it's not a discussion Tigress. I wanted...-" Po started to stammer.

"Don't waste my time here, panda." She growled and drummed her fingertips against her crossed arms. Her patience grew short by the seconds.

Po was trying to maintain his cool, but his fear got the better of him. He mentally cursed himself for listening to his dad insane proposition.

"Well, I was gonna... give you...a gift." He stuttered, nonetheless finally managed to push those words from his throat, even though not as fluent as he planned it to be.

Tigress tapped her right foot against the ground, still folding her arm defiantly. "And...?"

"I am not sure you will like it, can you promise me you won't kill me?" He cringed and inched away just in case.

"Depends on _what_ is the gift." She replied passively. "Was it something girly?"

"No."

"Was it something that would attract attention if I go in public with it."

"No, you just need to wear it here..., in _private_."

"Was it expensive?"

"No... but it was priceless."

Tigress was silent for a moment, numerous conjecture battling her head, after weighing her options, she decided it was not something that she would dislike nor harmful. "Ok, go ahead panda, I won't kill you." She promised.

"Could you...ermm...close your eyes?" Po fiddled his claws conscientiously, thinking he must have gone too far with his request.

Tigress huffed. However, she obediently closed her eyes.

"No peeking please..."

She let a little satirical chuckle at the bear's plea. Po gathered all his courage.

And before she could react, she felt a pair of furry arm approaching her shoulder, ever so gently, pulling her towards him…. affectionately. Her body abruptly stiffened, her arm fixed like a log on her side. She smelt the musk of his fur mixed with her favorite food concoction - Secret Ingredient Soup, intoxicating her cat senses.

She heard his soft breathing; his fur was thick and warm which offered lots of comfort against the late autumn breeze. It felt even better than how she remembered it back in Gongmen. She started to relax into the hug.

She listened to the sound of the leaves rustling above them, the gentle creaking sound of the ancient tree branch as the wind tugged its half bare limbs, the rhythmic hypnotizing sound of his plodding heartbeat, indulging the closeness and mental connection with someone else. His hug had filled the gap, bestowing years of affection she lacked during her young life.

A masculine voice broke the silence.

"Happy birthday Tigress." He whispered it gently.

Tigress heart skipped a beat.

The last time she hugged him she wanted him to stay, to be safe, it was a forceful act of concern that she deeply cared for him. _'The hardcore does understand'_.And the last time he hugged her was to express his relief that she was ok, she was still alive. That he was - in return - deeply care for her.

And before she could hold herself, she found that her upper limbs had returned his embrace without her commanding them, much tighter than his.

Finally, Po loosened the hug, and she did the same almost instinctively.

"Now you can open your eyes." He crooned."So... what do you think?...like my...erm... _gift_?" He squeaked in sheer reluctance. The confident panda a minute ago had turned himself into a small tiny insect.

Tigress blinked, suddenly landed back to reality, and her mind hastily reasoned what just happened. Po was getting nervous all over again, he scooted away slowly, preparing to run.

"Is...that...your _gift_?" She stammered. The panda flinched, however, gave a little weak nod.

"Thanks, Po." She returned him a small smile. And as she finished the sentence, she rushed to him to give him a hug. It was Po's turn to be flummoxed, the word his dad saying echoed through his mind.

 _'Sometimes when you don't know what to say, a hug is enough.'_

He quickly girded her tight figure closer to him.

"Glad you like it Tigress."

* * *

One of the best feelings in the world is

When you hug someone you love,

and they hug you back even tighter.

-UNKNOWN-

A hug delights and warms and charms,

that must be why God gave us arms.

-UNKNOWN-


	6. Watching The Other Sleep

Dreamworks owned KFP :-)

Enjoy!

* * *

WATCHING THE OTHER SLEEP

It was crisp summer nights. The windowsill was wide open to let the cool breeze comforting her fur. The crickets let a constant soothing rendition in the background, the sound of wind caressing the leaves of the vegetation which domicile right across the room could be heard floating in the distance.

Tigress sat there pensively on the little stool in one of the darkest corners of the room. Her paw moved methodically and rhythmically stroking his furry head and her lips humming a gentle lullaby, while her glowing ruby orbs were meticulously perusing every inch of his delicate feature, laid still, bundled up in a swaddle, on his way to slumber.

She adored the new addition to her long list of achievement. Po and herself had been to many adventures, from defeating local bandits to more deadly, menacing enemy of China like Lord Shen or Kai, she even had scars to remember them by. Both warriors had way passed mastering the Thousand Scrolls, achieved inner peace, be a Master of Chi, but nothing... nothing could rival what she had achieved six weeks ago.

Her trophy laid sweetly in front of her, while she was proudly fondling him with her paw. His worth was more than any kung fu title and mastering thousand sacred spools.

She had become a mother, although this wasn't exactly her first - the thrill of watching her newborn slept, was as blissful as she recalled it the first time. Tigress never would imagine that she would embrace motherhood and other womanly pursuit entangled with it, but it was true as many had said it: _a child is someone you carry inside you for a few months, in your arms for a few years and in your heart for all eternity_. And that's what transformed anyone, even as hardcore as she was, able to embody the true meaning of motherly love.

She heard the door faintly creaked and sure stumpy footstep approaching. She chuckled imagining her panda, with his big frame, protruding midsection, was trying to minimize his pressing weight on the floorboard to avoid it making too much sound, and obviously...tiptoeing didn't help a single bit. She reminisced how he secretly enjoyed watching her having a belly as big as his when she was pregnant, or silently amused at her struggle doing the most trivial task like standing up from her bed or putting on wrapping on her foot. Yes, finally Tigress could empathize and relate to Po's hatred towards the stairs. And although her competitive spirit was forcing her to undertake to do the Thousand Stairs ascend, her husband would never let her do it, not on her late pregnancy. ' _Our belly could be brothers.'_ She mentally laughed recalling his comedic but witty remark.

"Stealth mode huh?" She spoke sinisterly with a conspiratorial whisper to the creature who joined her on the other stool. One of his arms crept up to reach her shoulder. His eyes instantaneously captured the glimpse of the same thing his wife had been watching. In a moment of respite, both of them sat there mesmerized by a sleeping creature that held a resemblance to both of them.

"Look at his tiny paw, his tiny limbs, his tiny body... his tiny head, they are all so...-" Po's words was interjected mid-sentence.

"Hold that thought there, Panda," She interfered wryly. "Didn't you witness with your ears at least, my intense battle inside that labor chamber? Dare you said he is _tiny_." Po shuddered at the thought. After decades knowing Tigress, and witnessing how unbreakable she was, he couldn't imagine what could make her wail in pain like what she did inside the labor room.

"...uhm, yeah,...er...sorry." Po struggled to find the right words. But again, after a decade of their marriage, Tigress had done this three times. Three times she willingly endured the ordeal of pregnancy (yes, pretty hard for her because she couldn't train at all). Three times she suffered the pain of childbirth. She smirked at her husband guilty countenance.

"I was just teasing you Po. I'll go through it that again in a heartbeat." She replied gently, stroking her husband's other paw with hers, and then turned to look at their brand new sleeping cub.

"So..., was the others sleeping?" She perked her sensitive ears towards the door knowingly. She could hear faint purring, floating from the room next door.

"Yes, after reading the 5th book, the two of them finally hit the hay. I began to worry that I fell asleep before they do." Po replied.

"As if that's never happened before..." She retorted teasingly. She had testified quite a few time her husband did not make it back to their bedroom, just to find him sprawled on the floor, mouth agape, tongue lolling on the side, and trace of dry saliva had made its way down to the floor. How ridiculously disgraceful this might be for others. Tigress always considered Po's sleeping posture was rather...cute. She often purposefully stopped and watched as her husband lying in an awkward position on the floor, listening to his reverberating snore, his chest moving up and down periodically, and he looked so... peaceful. Her lips curved into a smile. Po was such a good dad, benevolent husband, a man fully dedicating his love to serve his wife and children. She usually would bend down to plant a kiss on his cheek, and pulled a blanket gently over him.

"Do you remember when it was just the two of us Po? You used to like watching me sleeping." Tigress tugged a smirk on her maw.

"Yeah..." He answered dreamily. "You slept like a baby." Po reciprocated with a playful tone.

"You were awesomely adorable and harmless looking when you were sleeping and...purring." He added thoughtfully.

"Panda, I think you are the one that slept like a baby." His wife grumbled, her fiery orbs resolutely disagreeing with her husband.

"How so?" He raised his brow absentmindedly.

"You only woke up when you are hungry." She stated dryly and crossed her stripey arm.

"You got the point there." He resigned. Unfortunately for Tigress, all their three cubs had Po's appetite, even though most of them shared her slender body. People often shook their heads in awe when all of them sat at Mr. Ping. The food at their table literally evaporated into oblivion in a matter of minutes, and even when they came to dine there often, no evidence shown on their body except for Po.

"I had to wake up six times yesterday, blame it on you and your panda genes." She threw a fake punch at Po's upper limb. Po just snorted and rubbed his arm where Tigress planted her fist.

"Ok, let me rephrase that, when you sleep, you look like an angel." Po tugged a big victorious, rather smug grin.

"Yes, but remember. Do not wake the angel up with a kiss, a cuddle, or whatever in the morning," Po recalled those moments very well. Even after a month of their marriage, he often forgot that Tigress was still a kung fu master who had dedicated her life with thousands hour of training, and - most importantly - used to sleep alone in her chamber. Her kung fu instinct was ingrained deeper than bone under her flesh.

Being the romantic one, Po did attempt to wake up earlier than his wife, sometimes just to watch her sleep, and gave her a morning kiss or a surprise cuddle. But _'surprise'_ and ' _kung fu instinct_ ' didn't go hand in hand. He often ended up enduring a punch or kick (if he were lucky), or a black eye, loosing a tooth, and once a double palm strike that sent him right out of the bedroom window. She often complained that her years of training was aimed to master those aggressive reflexes to avert intruders, now she was asked to untrained herself in order not to end up killing her husband accidentally.

"You and your kung fu instinct." Po snickered at the memory.

After a few minutes of pregnant silence, Po had a good suggestion.

"Let's go back to our bedroom, and indulge this quiet moment. Not many times that we had the time for ourselves." Tigress thought of the idea for a moment and immediately agree with her husband. Ever since her household expanded, they found it hard to sneak some intimate time together.

They both leaped to the bed.

"It's really warm in here, or is it just me?" He enquired, seductively wagged his eyebrow up and down.

"Are you hinting that you are going to disrobe yourself panda?" The feline next to him replied enticingly.

"...don't worry, I won't leave you alone." As she joined doing the same thing. Po smiled watching the beautiful feline in front of him undressed. Although she had carried three of his cubs and had been through a decade of sleepless nights, she was still as attractive as ever. No doubt there were a 'battle scar' on her body, like a slight sagging on her otherwise slender waist, and bags under her eyes, but all serve as a testament to her love and dedication to him and their children.

"Right, let's do the thing that we'd been waiting for doing properly for this past six weeks since the baby is born." He moved his finger sensuously on her wife's bare back as both of them snuggled under the blanket.

"Sound like a good idea." She replied.

And in less than a minute, both of them had fallen asleep. Doing exactly what they wanted to do together in the past six weeks.**

* * *

** The last conversation happened between my husband and me. The joy of parenthood!

* * *

From the moment you hold your baby in your arms,

you will never be the same.

You might long for the person you were before,

When you have freedom and time,

And nothing in particular to worry about.

You will know tiredness like you never knew it before,

And days will run into days that are exactly the same,

Full of feedings and burping,

Nappy changes and crying,

Whining and fighting,

Naps or a lack of naps,

It might seem like a never-ending cycle.

But don't forget …

There is a last time for everything.

There will come a time when you will feed

your baby for the very last time.

They will fall asleep on you after a long day

And it will be the last time you ever hold your sleeping child.

One day you will carry them on your hip then set them down,

And never pick them up that way again.

You will scrub their hair in the bath one night

And from that day on they will want to bathe alone.

They will hold your hand to cross the road,

Then never reach for it again.

They will creep into your room at midnight for cuddles,

And it will be the last night you ever wake to this.

One afternoon you will sing "the wheels on the bus"

and do all the actions,

Then never sing them that song again.

They will kiss you goodbye at the school gate,

The next day they will ask to walk to the gate alone.

You will read a final bedtime story and wipe your last dirty face.

They will run to you with arms raised for the very last time.

The thing is, you won't even know it's the last time

Until there are no more times.

And even then, it will take you a while to realize.

So while you are living in these times,

remember there are only so many of them

and when they are gone, you will yearn for just one more day of them.

For one last time.

-THE LAST TIME/UNKNOWN-


	7. Mr Ping

KFP owned by Dreamworks

MR PING

* * *

There was a poignant ambiance in the air. It had been two weeks since the restaurant being closed. It was almost odd to pass by in front of Dragon Warrior Tofu and Noodle Shop to see the counter was closed. The sets of chair and table stood alone in abandonment, the absence of feisty chatter from dozens of customers that usually crammed the place, the lack of the constant cacophony of clattering of plates, bowls against the wooden chopstick. And most importantly, the lack of certain adrenaline driven goose whom frequently swept his lively step around the courtyard, exchanging pleasantries with the villager without forgetting to mention a word or two about the restaurant latest offer.

All of his life, Po almost never knew his dad would ever close his restaurant, not even when a villain threatening to flatten his shop to the ground. Even if he had to evacuate, he would take his noodle cart with him. He even dared to turn the Jade Palace Hall of Warrior into a restaurant and to hire the Furious Five as waitresses, much to Shifu's indignation. The panda believed that the business drive and his father love for noodle must have been invested in his blood. Po remembered how his dad was always secretly hoping he would share the same passion, the same noodle dream, much to his chagrin that Po had a different dream altogether. Nonetheless, he was always proud of Po in any of his accomplishments, big or small…

One thing Po would never forget about his dad was his decision to adopt him.

 _'And from that day on, my soup and my life will be that bit sweeter.'_

Even so, he wasn't making enough money for himself, adding a mouth to feed (which soon became apparent he was representing more like three to four mouth), and the accident-prone panda's prospect of breaking his bowls or eating all his bamboo furniture, he'd still decided to adopt the baby Panda anyway. His dad always said that _biology_ was the least thing that made someone a father. He showered his son with his abundance of love just like his own, in which Po gladly returned. That's why Po was keen to follow his father's legacy, and before long had adopted Bao and desiring to do the same.

His father also had taught him the most valuable lesson in life; that love knew no boundaries. _'You may not have my beak, you may not have my wings, but from the very start... you always have my heart'_ was his father's word that left a profound effect on him.

His dad had shown him it's always possible to love, did not matter how big or small you are, old or young, panda, goose, snake, monkey or a tiger. That's how Po had earned himself a mark of a true hero because his capability to love like no other - to which China had to thank Mr. Ping for the lesson he had imparted to his son. Po was very affectionate, gentle and forgiving. Not only he was there to protect China from menacing adversaries, but to show the world that love could achieve a lot of things. He patched so many relationships, turned evil to good, built broken spirit, even changed the hardest core, platinum soul warrior into a loving mother and wife.

Po stared sullenly at the picture his father proudly hung on the kitchen wall. Mr. Ping stood there, wearing a proud smile in front of a cake that took Tigress dozens time to bake. On the top of the cake was 80 candles that close to set the cake on fire. He was surrounded by his son, a tiger daughter in law, master Shifu, his fellow dad - Li Shan, and four grand cubs. His feathers might have turned all white, he might have to stand with a stick, and he might not be able to chop vegetables or moved as nimbly as decades back, but his love for his family only grew stronger.

"I miss you, Dad." His voice was raspy and dense, and those words came full of sorrow and grief. The panda stroke the picture poignantly with the tip of his blunt claw. Abundance string of memories fired through his mind as his dazzling emerald eyes began to swell. It's been two weeks since the goose made his departure to the Spirit Realm. Po knew sooner or later. That day would come. But nothing... no scroll, no amount of kung fu training, even wise words from Oogway would ever prepare him enough to lose his dad. The very person who he had spent decades sharing recipe, sitting with him every night with kung fu stories, giving him all the encouragement when he doubted himself before his adversary, witnessing him falling in love and seeing him fulfilling his destiny.

All still strikingly vivid and fresh in his mind, Po recounted the memories of him and his dad. He told almost everything to him... well yes, almost! When he was a cub, Po would often tell his dad about a teacher, Mrs. Ching a bunny with a huge mole and a funny pink hair bun in between her ears. Or his first crush - Mrs. Xiang... the seamstress who lived two aisles down the street who often came and gave him cookies. Also about Mr. Xun, the warthog that stank because he hated to take a bath.

When Po was a teenager, he would selectively choose his stories prudently. He often still sneakily hiding his admiration to anything kung-fu-ey stuff to avoid hurting his dad. But Mr. Ping thought kung-fu for Po was a mere phase, just like he was with tofu. Po still told his dad about his daily 'normal' life, like about a certain bunny a tenth of his size that bullied him. Or a good looking teacher Ms. Yan, who keep on getting love letters from the boys in his class. But he failed to mention of a particular tigress that he had a crush with.

Then time moved on, as he grew into adulthood, he became much more aware that his father could read him like a book even when he didn't say what had concerned him. He still told his dad many stories of his training day in Jade Palace. About a certain very strict diminutive-big-eared red panda that often punished him mercilessly. About his mission in Gongmen whereby they all ran around the city in a dragon costume. About his idol that hugged him in Gongmen Jail, and about the abandoned panda village where he learned the sad truth about his beginning.

"I know you miss him, Po... " A comforting silky voice tried to put an ease on his aching heart. She knew there would be no one, not even her, could fill the gaping hole in his heart where Mr. Ping had left him, but at least she could hope to patch it up. "I miss him too." She placed her stripey arm around her husband's neck in sympathy, as both of them intently glance at the same picture that marked thousands of memories behind them.

For Tigress, the goose openness was the one that struck her. He would embrace, welcome, call her intimately (even dare to call her 'daughter' before she was married to his son) to the extent of sharing his secret ingredient soup recipe with her (in which only he and Po knew). She was sure Po's jovial, affectionate personality (and occasional mumbling in his sleep) came from him sharing the same roof with the goose for many years. However, she wasn't sure where the bad table manner, constant bad posture, and lack of punctuality came about, maybe Li Shan could help her answered that.

"Do you remember your dad's reaction when you took me to the restaurant as your date?" The panda turned his gaze meeting her amber eyes.

"Yeah..." He chuckled. "He was ecstatic...waddled and jigged like a lunatic." It was back decades ago when Po took Tigress as his date on his father's birthday, presumably as his gift. Po clearly recalled how his goose dad had an ability to always embarrass him. Especially in front of the girl he fancied. This included showing Tigress all Po childhood pictures, mostly pant-less, telling her all his bad habits, and heaven knew how many dozen times Mr. Ping told Po in front of Tigress - that he was desperate for grandbabies! And he made it clear - even before Tigress and Po officially dating - that he did not care where these 'babies' came from. Be it Bao Gu, egg, a stork, or a tiger. But the bottom line was, Mr. Ping knew Po like no other. He knew about Po's passion for all things kung fu. He was the first to know how his son utmost admiration for particular feline had blossomed into love, and he knew that secretly Po had a dream to become a father himself. So, he did all he can within his power to help his son made his dream transpired into a reality, after all - all he wanted was to see Po to be happy.

"And I remembered the day we get married." Her voice alerted him from his reverie. She smiled at the recollection of the event marking their new life as a part of the Panda-Goose clan. How Mr. Ping proudly introduced her to the rest of his goose family who stood, mouth agape that not only he had adopted a panda, a Dragon Warrior, and then had a tiger, a kung fu master as a daughter-in-law. But the most remarkable reaction would be when Po announced that she was carrying their first batch of Panda-Tiger infusion, for once he forgot what the word 'profit' means and stood in front of his restaurant inviting everyone to eat for free. Not that he loved Bao and Lei Lei any less.

Mr. Ping was very much Po's father in anything but blood. Although just like any other Father-Son, both of them did have a fair share of disagreement. But neither Po or Mr. Ping ever made their disagreement anything but things of the past. Their little quarrel only made their bond much stronger and special. Po was keen to do something in memory of his late father, something that would let everyone fondly remembered him by.

"Why don't run this restaurant back." suggested his wife beamed with a smile. She immediately registered skepticism in Po's feature."You've taught me how to cook Po. You can teach anyone."

"That's not just the only concern, Tigress." Po sighed with a bitter smile. Although Tigress's suggestion was indeed brilliant, he knew very well the constant battle of running a restaurant. His dad shared with him many trials and tribulation keeping the restaurant open.

"This would be different Po. You won't be doing this alone. You have me, the five... Lei Lei, Bao are passed their teen years now, they can help too. And don't forget all the pandas that moved here, Dim and Sum, Mei Mei and Hom Lee. I am sure they'll welcome this idea." She was holding it resolutely as determination glinted her eyes. Po can only be thankful, in time like this, heaven had sent a helper like her. When his soul was crushed, and the situation was hapless, she was there to reason with him all the endless possibilities... only if he tried, and only if he believed it's all possible.

"Ok, Tigress... I believe you. I know we can do it... for my dad."

* * *

We thought of you with love today,

But that is nothing new.

We thought about you yesterday.

And days before that too.

We think of you in silence.

We often speak your name.

Now all we have is memories.

And your picture in a frame.

Your memory is our keepsake.

With which we'll never part.

God has you in his keeping.

We have you in our heart.

 _-In Our Heart/Rose M. De Leon-_


	8. Master Shifu

KFP owned by Dreamworks!

MASTER SHIFU

Enjoy.

* * *

Tigress stood there, in front of her a magnificent view of valley of peace lulled itself under the constellation of million stars. She swept her vantage to the bustling market square which still have quite a few stall lit with minuscule dangling lantern, the alleyway was still half full with many citizen of the valley that went about their business. Tonight was the lunar festival night. she remembered Shifu used to take her every year to get her cotton candy and a lantern to decorate her bedroom. Shifu hardly smile, so much like herself, but she knew those moments were one of those rare time where his feature will soften listen to the exhilarating squeal of joy from her mouth after receiving her gift.

 _"Mast-... I mean, Baba... thank you!_ " those were her words. And his azure orbs stared at her intently as his feature embracing affection and his maw curved into a smile... one tender passionate smile. Tigress knew her relationship with Shifu was nothing but unconventional. Although she addressed him as master most of the time, doesn't change how he felt for her. This might took Tigress years to understand, that her father was always perceived her as the only daughter he ever had... and he ever loved.

And then there was Ms. Yan house... the memories of her made Tigress let a small chuckled. Ms. Yan was the goat, who apparently taught in the local school. Shifu asked her help to explain 'difficult' issue around womanhood with her. Tigress only saw her a handful of time, and it was only once a month. After nearly a year of faithfully came to her humble abode, Ms. Yan announced that she had parted all her knowledge and and that Tigress knew all the secret of the trade on 'how to make cubs.' Shifu was immediately turn pale as a ghost, a shock, disbelief, bafflement, irritation, and gratefulness all mixed into his expression, and then Shifu's eye twitched... in which her panda comrade think it was rather 'creepy'. Tigress nearly let a tiny smile but suppressed her urge to be polite since Ms Yan was there. There was two side of a coin of having Ms. Yan, the good side was the relief that Shifu himself did not have to have awkward conversation with his daughter about where tiger cub came from, and the not-too-good side was the realisation of the extent of details that Ms. Yan had imparted to his innocent 16 years old. Not long after Ms. Yan ended her sentence, Shifu was out of cold, and Tigress had to carried him back to Jade Palace only to face Oogway and a few palace's servant and had to recount the same embarrassing story.

Tigress sat where she was at, sighed pensively as reassessing a small fraction of her fond memories. It's true that she spent most of her life training. There are many moment of weaknesses she felt as she grew up. She struggled to gain acceptance and to earn much love she craved for. But after many years gone by, Tigress can only see herself in Shifu. He might not be the perfect father, but he was still the first man that believed in her... the second was Po. When the panda came into her life, Shifu and herself began to reveal the extent of affection they have for each other. During training Shifu might never said the 'proud' word, but it was clear that he always commanded the panda to be as hard working as Tigress, to be as perfect as Tigress, to be as discipline as Tigress... She was his prized student, the jewel of his teaching career, his daughter that he trained since she was a cub, the cub that had transformed into a beautiful and fearless warrior, and the daughter that he loved.

Her gaze fell on the crooked wooden staff next to her, she rubbed it gently with the palm of her paw, feeling all the smooth yet bumpy surface of its wooden limbs which hold many memories of her previous master, Oogway, and then her father.

"Father... are you alright up there?" She turned her face towards the sky as she held his staff on her other paw. The place where she sat, was the last time she saw her master and her father in flesh. _"Tigress... it's time._ " Those were the words that crushed her hardcore spirit. She remembered how she knelt and beg him not to leave. " _Tigress, you've made me very proud... more proud than any other. I am glad to have you as my student... and moreover as my daughter._ " And before closing his life chapter, her father handed over his staff to her and reached his skinny arm around her neck. Both of them engaged in emotional hug - the hug that filled the gap of the affection she lacked in those years, while her comrades muffled sob echoed in the background. " _Tigress, I love you..._ " He gave her final goodbye as he kissed her forehead. Her vision of him was blurred behind blanket of tears. _'I love you to, Father.'_ Tigress recollected her own words with one of her idle paw on her heart.

"Tigress...mind if I join?" A deeper husky voice snapped her from her trance. There was only one creature in the valley that own that embedded both silliness and maturity at the same time. She patted the spot beside her, her smile was her approval. The panda saw her still clutching on Shifu's staff as her empty look swept across the immense vantage in front of them.

"You missed him don't you?" He said gently. It's been a month since the old grandmaster left his mortal home, the Jade Palace. He had made Tigress the grandmaster together with Po as Oogway successor. Both will share responsibility running the palace, dealing with political and safety issue of the valley and teaching the five.

"Well... I missed him too." He landed his black arm on her back and reached her shoulder, gave it a gentle squeeze as if it will comfort her troubled spirit.

"I remembered when we try to arrange Shifu to date Crane's mom." Po snickered. Tigress let a small laugh. Those were indeed insane ideas. "What were you thinking Po? you want to have Crane as your brother in law?." Tigress teased mockingly. "Well, having Crane would be a lot better than...Tai Lung." He chuckled.

"I told you it won't work." Tigress scolded but smile nonetheless. "Crane's mom was shock to learn that Shifu was actually grandmaster of the Jade Palace 'hotel' and not a mere simpleton as your story was." The panda just scratched his head recollecting the incident over "Jade Palace Hotel", a trick he pulled between himself and Crane as a decoy to deluded Crane's mom of Crane real identity as kung fu master. (**Legend of Awesomeness)

"Yes, those were the days." Tigress said heavily.

"Ti, there will come a time whereby we had children, we grow old, and had to move on to the next life. I am sure you won't want your student or your children to mourn over you forever?" The feline understood his point, but it's all easier to say than done.

"We had the bitter sweet memories Master Shifu left us by, but don't let his departure pull you down... but rather to encourage you to keep on his legacy behind." He said sagely. Tigress chuckled. "You sounded like Oogway."

"I think I'll know my calling... To train the next generation of Dragon Warrior, and as Oogway's successor you better preparing your pick, panda... the next candidate may just fall from the sky." She said teasingly. Po just smiled and land a kiss on her cheek. "I think we are a little like Oogway and Shifu... " He commented.

"... I am sure they would never _things_ that we do." And Tigress pinned Dragon Warrior flat on the ground, and planted a kiss on his lips.


	9. Kung Fu Panda 4

KUNG FU PANDA 4

Me: Po, care to tell them?

Po: That me, Tigress... and the rest of the gang were owned by Dreamworks, isn't that obvious?

* * *

"Tigress...!" I heard my name being mentioned. I saw the other was musing around the props. Crane and Monkey were looking at a green substance that would make them look like a jade zombie. Mantis, and Viper both insisted they didn't need it since they were already green.

"You called me?" I asked. Meanwhile, behind me, Kai was fretting about his horn because he had to wear it all the time during the shooting. "This is sooo heavy, I've hurt my neck! Can't you guys made one of Styrofoam?" I snickered inwardly; he might look menacing and huge, apparently, act like a wimp. Oogway smacked him with his staff and told him to stop moaning so everyone can get on with their part.

Jen nudged me on the waist, winning back my attention to the script. "Now, I want you to look exhausted and injured. You'll emerge from the panda village gate, where Po was going to meet you there."

"Ok... " I said monotonously, paying more attention to the script that I've memorized religiously since a few weeks ago. My part of the act in this movie was quite straight forward. I guess because the main focus on the story was between Po and the new co-star Li Shan, played as his father. I had to admit; I was quite relieved. Acting emotional driven scene that showing a lot of feeling was never my forte. In the second movie, we had to take 300 takes alone inside Gongmen Jail, because Jen wasn't satisfied with the way I hugged my co-star any my love interest in the movie, Po Ping. He was a panda... yes, you didn't read me wrong, although I am a tiger, Jen was crazy enough to pair me up with a panda. But after the second movie installment, most of our fan agree that we made a cute couple. So... either Jen was a genius, or the audience were blind. But don't get me wrong, Po was adorable... he had such a warm and endearing personality. I was initially annoyed with the amount of time he took to memorize his line (and he was the main character... for crying out loud), but when we all returned as the cast for the second movie, I realized how much improvement he had made. He took his role seriously, his acting was full of expression and very much convincing, and he was patient with me on those 300 takes, even managed to calm Melissa and Jen from beheading me.

I think for many people the best shot in the second movie was the ending when Po hugged Mr. Ping and told him he knew who he was... he was his son. Dang, even I cried when I watch them. The second on the vote was the hug scene, when Po hugged me in front of our comrades and Gongmen citizen. Jen said my expression was priceless! I was embarrassed, but nonetheless, I am proud of all of the movie we've made. I just hope the third installment would be as successful as the first two, if not more.

"Tigress, it's time." I felt a paw on my shoulder.

"Po?" I said half surprised. "I didn't know you are here."

"...yeah, sorry I am a little late. I was helping Li with his line just now; it's his first time." He chuckled. "Are you ready?" He smiled gently, the smile that melted my hardcore soul... so it was in the movie. I gave him a warm smile as my word.

Then we all set. I heard the motion '3...2...1 action'. I climbed over the props, not forgetting to look as tired and injured as possible. Then I saw Po. He was wearing terrified and worrisome look on his face, very fitting. He scooped me into his arm, as we continue to lock gaze, I let my mind took the conversation that I've memorized by heart.

"And CUT!" the producer made the motion. "That was superb, well-done Tigress, Po. Only one single take and it was... very compelling and passionate acting from both of you." She patted mine and Po's shoulder. I saw Po stole a quick glance at me, and smiled as I caught his gesture.

"Right, that was the last sequence that we need to do," Jen announced. (**note that in real world, producer doesn't take a shot in the right order) And with that everyone chorus a coherent cheer. "We will have our celebratory dinner tonight, and until we see you again... if we ever decide to make another sequel."

I saw everyone hugging each other. Viper, Monkey, and Mantis came to me to give me a hug.

"I am going to miss you Tigress!" she squealed as she coiled around my waist and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Hope we are going to hang out together again." Monkey shook my hand, and Mantis hopped on my shoulder. I beamed. "So I hoped." And Crane emerged from among the crowd, next to him was Shifu - who played as my adopted father.

"Tigress!" He landed one wing on my shoulder. "Too bad we didn't interact too much in this movie, but I've enjoyed to see you again." His smile as wide as his beak.

"So am I... and also lovely to work with you Mr. Shifu. I hope this won't be the last time." I said courteously. Shifu smiled, "You've grown into such a fine actress Tigress, it's been more than ten years since we worked together. I heard about the plan to gather us again in a few years time." He added.

I was quite surprised; even Jen had not told me. Normally Po and I would be the first to know.

"There would be a challenge for you and Po." Shifu winked meaningfully. I raised my brow, but he placed his skinny finger in front of his mouth indicating he won't be able to tell me. A question begging my mind, and I knew just the person to ask.

"Jen...can I ask you something?" I enquired. Jen was still talking to Alexandro and Melissa. "Sure, give us 5 minutes, and I'll be with you." I left them and went to find the panda girl who had become so attach to me during the course of the production. While still scouring every room in the studio, I heard the familiar husky voice.

"Looking for her?" I turned around to see Po was holding Lei Lei on his shoulder.

"Oh, yes... how do you know?" I wondered. "Well, she was looking for you too, and so do I... Hence, I told her, we can look for _Stripey Baby_ together." A huge grin exploded all over his face. I couldn't help but smile. He might often look pathetic - but yes, nothing can beat that captivating smile. But I quickly shook those irrational thoughts and gained my usual composure.

"Right, I just wanted to say goodbye to everyone... who knows when we are going to meet again," I said plainly. He placed Lei Lei on the ground, and the cub instantly took my paw in hers.

"Uhm... Tigress... would you like to go out with me tomorrow?" He prompted, I can see a glint of nervousness as he meddled with his blunt claw and tried to avert his gaze.

"Po... are you asking me on a date?" I asked concisely, teasing him. Even though he was a famous star now, in reality, Po was still quite a shy guy.

"... you can say that." He mumbled, a light blush to form at his cheeks at gentle teasing. I chuckled, somewhat enjoying torturing this poor sap. "...Yes, I'll go with you, could you pick me up? I can give you my address and number."

"Really?" his feature lit up like a firework. I thought that was charming. I gave a small nod. "...Thanks, Tigress...!" He embraced me in a bear hug, which by now, after numerous take, I've grown used to. I hugged him back.

"See you tomorrow Dragon Warrior," I said with enticing voice. "Night Tigress!" He pranced through the crowd as I sighed, he was indeed one very special bear. I almost forgot that Lei Lei still holding my hand.

"Stripy baby?" her voice snapped me from my momentary daydream. "Yes, Lei Lei? Shall we find your grandma? I need to ask her address so we still can see each other." She giggled as a response.

"I think Cuddles like you," she commented. My heart nearly stopped. "What?" that's all came out of my throat.

"I think Cuddles like you," she repeated her sentence as if trying to convince me. "He told me I could have his Tigress action figure as long as he has the real thing." she pulled the mini version of me from her pocket.

"He told me for now; I can borrow until he owns you." I felt the blood rush to my face. Was that true? Po and I had known each other for a decade, thanks to Jen, Alexandro, and Melissa, and all I knew Po was always such a gentleman and caring soul, even when I am rude or impatient to him at our first take. But considering him as my other significant yet to cross my mind.

"I'll consider that." I smiled to Lei Lei. The cub let a shriek of joy knowing she might own my Tigress' dolls... I mean action figure.

And then, I saw Jen approaching me. "Tigress, you wish yo ask me something?" I quickly move my head as a sign of agreement.

"Yes, I heard from Mr. Shifu, you've planned the next sequel... and there'll be challenging part for Po and me?" I emphasized the last part of the question.

Jen just laughed. "Depends... do you think kissing would be challenging enough? You both did fine with hugging, so I put a bit more twist in the next movie. Now I suggest that practice may help, you have 2-3 years to get yourself ready. You don't want to retake the scene 300 time don't you?"

She patted my shoulder and left me with my thoughts.


	10. Neighbour

Dreamworks owned KFP

NEIGHBOUR

The following story was inspired by the first opening scene in Kung Fu Panda (very first one!), a hog that often watered her plant and caught Po doing his silly miming action.

Enjoy!

* * *

Her name was Mrs. Chu. She was a hog who lived in the Valley of Peace. She'd been there all her life, in the same street, in the same house, that she proudly inherited from her late father.

Next to her lived Mr. Ping, the odd adrenaline asserted goose, who had an overbearing sense of business and profit, with senseless obsession in noodle making. He was, too, had been living in the same house, with the restaurant underneath it, as long as she could remember.

Both Ping and Chu were friends when they were younger, naturally, since their house's proximity and the fact that they're both about the same age.

Days moved into months. Months turned into years. Chu ended up married to a gentle, kindhearted warthog who worked as a seamstress, and was blessed with three piglets. A lot of their friends followed suit, one by one, was getting married, started a family, and settled down. While Ping, blaming the combination of his workaholic life and much less opportunity to develop consequential romantic encounter, had remained single, living alone in his house above his restaurant.

Chu often suspected the goose might be lonely, albeit his restaurant never ceased to be invaded by hungry mobs during a particular time of the day. However, she knew, one could feel lonely even in the middle of the crowd, or rambunctious customer. Being lonely was a mental state, not a physical condition of being alone. So, Chu, in all that she could do, always trying to make sure Ping was ok. But Ping, not a person who liked to be pitied upon, it would hurt his dignity. So Chu had schemed another plan.

Upstairs, one of her son's bedroom was directly opposite Ping's bedroom, right above his kitchen. Chu purposely placed a few plants over the window and watered them twice a day. As she ran through the motion, she would peer to check where Ping was, and whether he was okay. Often time she heard him talk to himself, sometimes about a newly thought recipe, sometimes she heard him snoring loudly with occasional mumbling about tofu and bean bun, sometimes she heard him cursing at the numbers from his restaurant profit.

But all that soon to change, because one day, Ping adopted a panda.

The room across her soon became the panda's room. His name was Po Ping, which means _perfect peace_. As cliche as it sounded, to Chu, unfortunately, Po came nothing close to _perfect_ nor _peaceful_.

At first, when Po was a baby - all she heard was him giggling or crying, sometimes Ping squeaky voice tried to comfort him could be heard in between. But as Po grew older, all sort of weird noise and action could be heard. Starting from the sound of bowls clattering, snoring, a loud thud (she figure out Po must have fallen from his bed), to the mimicking sound of kung fu fighting.

Chu often still came to visit Ping and challenged him in a series of mahjong game. She often caught a glimpse of the panda, who had very quickly outgrown the goose by dozen times. Po wasn't incredibly handsome, he had a few serious table manner problem, undeniable appetite disorder and reputably known of his klutziness. Nonetheless, Po was irresistibly adorable and overwhelmingly affectionate, especially to his dad. Chu secretly pleased that Ping had decided to adopt him, because, even though that panda clumsiness has sourly deflated his restaurant profit, Ping had never looked lonely, petulant or disquieted anymore, in fact quite contrary - he was nothing but contented with his life. That panda had brought joy and happiness to the goose, filling him with hope, giving him a chance to bestow his love and to be loved in return.

But again, came back to the topic of the view from her window. Years went by, and Chu was still faithfully watering her plants outside her window. Po had grown into a full-size adult panda by then. However, the same scenery and noise seemed to cling on the window conscientiously. Chu quickly learned that Po, had a morbid fascination with all things kung fu, after adhering increasing amount of kicking and fake punch sound, which initially she thought was just a phase. Often time in the morning, the panda would pose as the member of Furious Five, the Valley defender, miming the creature one by one, passionately, including their sound.

But things began to change as the same panda was revealed to be the Dragon Warrior, Defender of China.

Soon, he moved out of his room to lived and trained in Jade Palace. And Ping was alone once again.

The room was now quiet and empty, with the very occasional occurrence of Ping's relatives came to stay, or Po's panda dad. But as the restaurant boomed in business, coherently with Po's raising fame, Ping didn't seem to bother too much about being alone.

However, a few months ago, marking from Po's birthday, the things that arose in that room began to stir her outermost curiosity.

First, while doing her habitual watering routine, she saw Po and a tiger inside the room, having a meal separated from the crowd in the courtyard. Chu recognized the tiger, after all, there are not many in the Valley of Peace but one. Master Tigress, the leader of Furious Five. She was a graceful, beautiful, bold, powerful warrior, which was quite a shocking revelation to know she was attracted romantically to a panda.

Next time, when she watered the plant early in the morning, she heard a female voice, calling Po's name, waking him up... Chu couldn't see anything because Po's curtain was drawn.

A few weeks later, again while watering the plants religiously, she heard a loud thud sound followed by the clattering noise of bowls breaking on the floor. To her shock (not horror), she saw Master Tigress pinned Po to the cupboard by his window. The sudden pressure might have caused the bowls and items from the rack to fall. But that did not concern Chu, more than what she witnessed next. She saw the tiger kissing Po on the lips, rather passionately. It was brief and quick, especially since she cleared her throat loudly, winning the attention of both parties involved in intimate entanglement, the tiger quickly pulled away and dashed off, leaving Po between bewildered, astonish and elated.

That occurrence seemed to repeat itself until Chu lost count how many times she had caught the panda and the tiger making out while she watered the plant.

A few months later, something odd happened. Po's bedroom curtain was always drawn, and although rarely, Chu would hear unsettling, rustling, tugging sometimes moaning sound. Her curiosity turn into annoyance, as she decided to berate (more like suggest) Ping about it. However, to her surprise, Ping admitted that it was his idea to have the couple in question around occasionally, due the fact of lack of privacy in Jade Palace student barrack. Ping, in rather sinister fashion, advised was for Chu to close her window as tightly as possible so that she wouldn't be disturbed by those sounds.

However, intense inquisitiveness crept upon the hog. Instead of closing her window as suggested by Ping, she found herself watering the plant five times a day, just to catch the tiger and Ping adopted son ' _in action_ ,' and just to confirm her suspicion about Ping's obsession to hear pitter-patter little paws in his house. Although unseen, Chu enjoyed teasing them by clearing out her throat rather loudly, knowingly impeding their _business_.

All that happened until Chu killed the plants from overwatering. And to her puzzlement, the sound from Po's bedroom evaporated as well, in exchange to quietness, and emptiness as it usually was.

For a few months, Po's bedroom appeared to be abandoned, deserted and well forgotten, the curtain was always shut during day and night, in silence. Until one day, when Chu was about to place her newly bought plants in front of her window. She heard a painful wailing sound, followed by a few other women murmuring on the background, mouthing words she couldn't exactly decipher. She had a wild guess on what might have taken place. However, she couldn't bear hearing it and decided to make a stroll through the village market instead. The situation seemed to be settled back to normal when she got back.

However, the next morning, Po's bedroom window was opened widely. She saw the panda, cradling much smaller monochromatic form in his arm, showing his action figure and imitating their sounds. Chu could only smile as she following her rites to water her plant and clearing her throat. This time, the panda, responded back.

"Good morning Mrs. Chu... meet my son. Lotus." He said pridefully, as he moved closer to the edge of the window so the hog could see his newly born cub.

"Awww... he is so cute, congratulation Dragon Warrior." She returned the sympathy. The panda, who just earned his new title as a father beamed ear to ear.

"Thanks, Mrs. Chu. You are the fourth person to see him. Right after me, my goose dad, and the Grandmaster Shifu." He added.

The hog couldn't help but to widen her smile.

A few years later, the room across her bedroom seemed to have returned to usual use. The occasional visit from Ping's relatives, Dragon Warrior panda's dad or sometimes the cub's sleepover. Until last week, the series of weird noises resumed, and the curtains once again had always been shut.

Mrs. Chu could only sigh. She knew what would come next.

 _I guess time to buy new plants real soon._


	11. Weird

WEIRD

KFP owned by Dreamworks!

Enjoy :-)

* * *

"Tigress... could you just stop this?" The panda in front of her begged as the tiger master pinned him down to the wall in the training hall. Alas, this was not usual sparring, Tigress had used her claw to shred the panda's patched trousers to complete rags. In his desperation to hide, she ended up cornering him. Their muzzle was only an inch apart, and by the look of it, soon there would be none, as Tigress aggressively licked her lips and stared at the panda with an enticing look. Po swore he felt like her dinner.

All this was triggered by series of events a week prior.

After years harboring a particular affection to the hardcore Warrior, Dragon Warrior finally had enough courage to express his uttermost feeling to his best friend. But instead of getting a definite answer, the master of hard-style took much more unconventional approach. She decided to show him.

And that's where all this weird, out of character behavior commenced.

First, Po dismissed it on the ground that she might want to show her emotions towards him, and just like anything else with Tigress - she always played hard to get, a complicated and unorthodox way of telling her emotion. Very much opposite of himself, who could be described as easy to please, simple-minded and rather too naive.

Po was first in the kitchen washing the dishes, when the tiger ran through her claw tracing seductively on his back, sending him a happiness shiver in all direction. And the second one was in his bedroom, when he returned from a late shift at his father's restaurant, almost in the middle of the night, just to find the feline wearing her sleeping robe, laying, reading her scroll in his bed! The third was in the public bath. When Po decided to have a late night soak, attempting to loosen up his muscle after a brutal day training with Shifu, he was surprised that Tigress, who was a stealth mode incarnate, emerged from under the water next to him, with a flirtatious predatory grin on her face.

And it was only getting worse by the day...

Po was confused, and every time he attempted to reason with her. She would innocently glare back at him, just to say to give her time to adjust.

Dragging his feet, the panda walked into the kitchen wearing forlorn look on his face. His comrades, minus certain feline, was enjoying an afternoon snack of peach pie Po made earlier while carrying idle conversation among themselves. The ultimate show of his sad feature was quickly gaining the attention of his friends who almost never seen Po looking troubled.

"Po... is everything alright?" Viper looked at her friend with sincere, concerned look.

"No..." Po sighed dejectedly.

"Is it something to do with Tigress?" Crane made a wild guess.

"Yes..." The panda was still staring at the imaginary dumpling on the table, but looking at it with such a distasteful face.

"We might be able to help you, Brother." The diminutive, green bug master grinned widely, probing the panda to share the source of his agony. "If it's something about love, your love doctor is here." He wagged his brow up and down.

"Well, I told her my feeling for her... and ever since, she has been acting... weird," Po admitted.

"Describe... weird." Crane retorted.

"It's just..., really out of character... very...un-Tigress, she suddenly became a flirtatious, seductive, almost evil predator." Po's statement received a mischievous grin from Monkey and Mantis.

"Isn't that...good?" The bug's grin was yet making its full force into a teasing chuckle.

"I think that's the way a lot of cats showing interest on her mate." Monkey chimed in, albeit after knowing Tigress, he couldn't ever portray her being the way Po described, not in a million years.

"Really? but... I am a panda, not other cats. I don't like her like this." The stricken, troubled panda slouched in his seat. His arm slumped by his side.

"I know what you need to do Po, you need to be someone that Tigress don't like, then probably she'll realize." Viper gave Po an idea.

"Like what?" He raised his brow curiously.

"Think about it, why Tigress like you?" Viper reciprocated the question, giving him a clue. "Because you are innocent, shy, loveable, clumsy and naive. Now try to think all the opposite."

"You mean I had to be more daring, confident, aggressive and cool from now on?" Po's maw curved to a small smile. The narrative sounded very much logical.

"Yes, and we will help you." Monkey nudged Mantis. Both laughed and signaled the panda to follow them to Monkey's chamber.

* * *

That night, after done with the training, Tigress began to make her move again. But Po had beaten her to it. He approached the tiger confidently, and reach her waist with both of his paws, and pressed her body against his torso in such suave manner.

"Tigress, You're the only girl I love now... but in ten years, I'll love another girl. She'll call you... 'Mommy.'" Then Po left the bemused tiger with her thought.

Later on in the kitchen, Tigress spotted Po alone and saw her chance. She stood next to him, and her tail wrapped on one of his legs. Po tried to maintain his cool and put the ladle he was holding. He then grabbed her tail with one hand, and her waist with the other, and whispered into her ear. "If you were a vegetable you'd be a cute-cumber" and landed a peck on her lips.

And later on the way to the student quarter, Po stopped her again. "Tigress! I think you have something in your eye... Oh wait, it's just a sparkle."

During the sparring match, as usual, Tigress managed to pin the panda down. "Tigress... Kiss me if I am wrong, but I am winning this spar, right?"

The last one was when the five went down to eat at Mr. Ping restaurant. Tigress was anticipating that Po was going to do something to her.

"Hi guys, Hi Tigress... " And he stared at the tiger until she felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Po, stop staring at me!" She snarled.

"There must be something wrong with my eyes. I can't take them off you..." He winked mischievously.

She sighed. "What's wrong with you, you... you've changed!"

"Really? If there were something I could change about you... and that's your last name." Po started to enjoy teasing the tiger.

"Po honestly!" She was genuinely irritated.

Po quickly dropped his smooth, cool, mask. "Ok guys, I think I need to speak to Tigress in private," Po announced to the rest. The four just snickered, while Monkey and Mantis clearly amused Po had used their pick-up lines.

"Po, what's going on?"

"Isn't that me suppose to ask you that? You've been acting all weird since I confessed." The panda gave her a pretentious pout, folding his chubby arm petulantly.

"I am sorry Po, I think... maybe I bottled up my feeling too much." The tiger scooted closer.

"Why don't you just tell me?" He said flatly.

"... it's hard for me... I am not eloquent if you see what I mean." Her fiery orbs told him she was telling the truth. "...you see, cats became playful to say they're... really like someone."

"I see..." He crooned, placing his black arm around her shoulder.

"So what pandas do to someone they like?"

Po thought for a while. In the wild, unlike many cats who lived in colonies, pandas were considered quite a solitary animal, instinctually only showed affection in mating season. This made him blushed furiously. But again, Po wasn't a feral panda... he was more... civil than that. But there was a part of him which showing that, in much more limited sense.

"I'll show you..." He muttered, as their gaze met. Po meticulously observed her feature. Her fiery red irises against a sea of mellow yellow, staring with dazzling passion, full of life. Her marking around her face sharpened her feature - she would never need a makeup. And her maw., very much the same size, shape and compatible to his. He grinned ridiculously, yes this was the creature that very much he loved! He cleared his throat.

"Your lips look so lonely... Would they like to meet mine?" He whispered as he closed the gap between them.

Tigress thought for a while and grinned seductively in return.

"Fine, I'll lend you a kiss...but you have to promise me to give it back."

Po smirked. "I didn't know cats are a fast learner..."


	12. A Mark of Changes

KFP owned by Dreamworks

MARK OF CHANGES

* * *

It is admirable for a man to take his son fishing,

but there is a special place in heaven for the father who takes his daughter shopping.

—John Sinor

* * *

Morning had arrived in Valley of Peace, a place that laid quietly in between rugged mountains, thin fog slid in between its range and bathed in dramatic golden sunlight. Habitually, Tigress opened up her eyes and watched the color stained rays beamed through a small opening in the shades that covered her window. She sighed lightly, and stretched herself comfortably, letting a tiny mewl before deciding what to do next. It was one of those summer solstice mornings, the birds were eager to chat, even the normal scent of dew had evaporated possibly an hour ago under the intense, mocking heat of the sun. The resplendent chatter from the village underneath was floating into a faint gentle murmur, celebrating the longest, brightest possibly hottest day of the year.

Shifu had given them a day off today, as the village was going to indulge in a sensational festival, celebrating such occurrence that happened only once a year. Tigress wasn't keen on going anywhere during the day, as she could imagine the smoldering heat, endlessly fanning herself, in fruitless attempt to bring a truce in a constant battle against the heat. She could imagine Po, the poor panda that she envied deeply in winter, undeniably had been tortured to the point of extermination, sprawled his limbs laying on the cool marble floor of Hall of Warriors, or dipped himself in the bath house until his skin crumpled and puckered like an old lady.

The evening was a different story. All of her comrades was undoubtedly rather enthusiastic on the prospect, even herself - more than she cared to admit, had been drawn into adoring various colourful lantern, mighty fireworks display, or simply watching the folks dance... and of course, Po humiliating himself, tripping around the villagers... or maybe try to persuade her to join the fun. With Gongmen fiasco just month behind, her vivid recollection about fireworks colorful display and much more opulent looking festival to thank the Furious Five and Dragon Warrior, never left her mind.

Albeit such a gleeful outlook, today was marking another thing. Today, years ago, was the day the Dragon Warrior had defeated Tai Lung.

The villagers did have another reason to celebrate. The formidable snow leopard had caused them worry of demise not just once, but twice! The various crack and cranny around the village, even at Mr. Ping restaurant courtyard, served a purpose as a silent witness and reminder of such attack. It was Oogway's providence and wisdom, the old mysterious turtle, who refuse to ever give a secret to limitless power to a snow leopard with such temper. It's been a few years ago, but Tigress was certain, for some who had lost their loved one, today, and many years after, it wasn't going to be any easier.

And that included... her adopted father.

Through the years, Shifu was no one but a master to her. He was attentive to her physical need, never failed to feed and dress her well, but he was always distant and cold. For as long as she could remember, she trained so hard to earn his approval, to make him proud, with the hope to turn _that_ piece of paper from the orphanage into reality...alas it never did. Gradually, it was better after Po arrived in the palace. The rare, but the most treasured smile he gave to his students. Sometimes he joked dryly, even laughed a wintry chuckled at Po's painful stupidity. And he did join them in the kitchen for dinner from time to time. She witnessed the wall around his heart, slow and steadily, crumbled, a brick at a time, the same fashion as hers.

A few years ago on this very day, while the village was celebrating for two of different reason, his father was here... in solace, mourning a death of his only son.

The son that he instilled all his dream, his hope, his pride. The son that he had trained, taught in such a noble way, had broken his heart to pieces. Tigress still remembered how broken he was, behind the closed door. Away from his students' and Dragon Warrior's scrutiny, her father had fallen into despair, denial, self-loathing above all, hopelessness as if the world had ended right there and then - blaming himself for Tai Lung's fate, for filling his head with delusions of grandeur of being the prophesied Dragon Warrior, for failing to make him realised there was more to life than the just attaining the Dragon Scroll.

She had never met the snow leopard, his estranged brother, in flesh prior to their epic battle at the Thread of Hope. The fragment of a story she stitched from Oogway and a few palace servant who had been dedicating their life for decades, concluded that for once, her adopted father was capable of love. She used to think, that Master Shifu had never loved anyone before and since, as much as he loved Tai Lung, that his betrayal had caused him to be emotionally crippled - a disability to love that she, as his sister, had to endure. As years flew by, introspecting the image of her hardcore self - she finally understood, her father was always capable of hurt and love, before or after Tai Lung, much like anyone else, he was just an actor, moreover a better liar.

* * *

That same morning, Shifu arose from the bed. Like many other years, his mind quickly trailed off to the memory of his deceased son.

How could he forget? A new wave of grief assailed him. The pain was the same, if not even more. He had never... could ever... forget him. He had nothing than the bitterest tears shed over graves, for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.

He had failed him.

He sighed silently, recollecting the remnant of the past. How the little snow leopard he picked from the gate of the palace, he had brought into his palace, his house... and his heart. As a toddler, Tai Lung loved to nuzzle, cuddle and cling to him, knocking his tiny frame on the process even once he had broken his wrist, but he would never exchange such tender moment, unabashed with earnest love. Even years ago, as he watched a full-grown leopard in his adolescence - in his venture to forcefully getting the Dragon Scroll, to him he was still the cub he used to nurture, coddled with such love and affection he had never laid upon anyone else.

But after being denied by Oogway, all the immense weight of sorrow, bountiful resentment, fiery rage and jealousy seemed to always haunt his feature. This same boy turned away from the noble path that was set before him, letting his judgment clouded by pride, ambition, and enmity, and wasted 20 years of his life, his talent, and rot away in prison. His venture for Dragon Scroll had consumed his life, his time, his energy... but again, after succumbing his second chance, Dragon Warrior had put him to rest.

For the longest time, Shifu had always blamed himself, but sooner he realized it took two to clap. His pride had hoisted his son into believing who he should have been, and Tai Lung - instead of looking introspectively on himself, has blamed the failure to his father - without realizing, his father loved and proud of him just the same.

But he had to learn from the past, he realized, just like Tai Lung, he had been blinded, he had wasted 20 years of noble opportunity to raise someone else, a second chance to be a father, to Tigress, his daughter.

"Master..." She approached him and bent into a respectful bow. "You summoned me?"

He turned to his other side, laid the most beautiful maiden, strong as steel, gentle at heart. Her face was a portrait of true gracefulness, kindness and bravery encased in one beautiful form. Behind his lid the memory of her cub-hood replayed. She was undoubtedly the best in her generation, striving with dedication and passion for becoming anything but what her master could be proud of. Her squeal in electric delight when she was able to do her first spin kick, or the night she succumbed alone fearing the thunder. He remembered how her ruby orbs shone, speaking volumes of thousand silent utterances for fatherly love, undeniably zealous hunger for affection he could not give. What they had carved and mold for themselves had worked well for so many years, so he thought. But that was years ago, now she was a full grown woman, a pinnacle of strength and grace, an exemplary warrior, but she had never seen him as her father.

"Please, sit down... Tigress."

He watched those fiery ruby orbs had lost it shine, shielded behind a cold, stoic facade of her platinum soul. All his presumption about her upbringing was proven wrong after that monochromatic oaf, with corpulent torso, flabby arm and intoxicating silly grin arrived in the palace. She was still the same cub he picked up from Bao Gu, she was capable of hurt and love just like she always was. Po had brought back the dazzling radiance in her eyes - the eyes he once knew when she was a mere cub. The panda had breathed life into her hardcore soul, recaptured back her moments of happiness. He had torn her cold, stoic persona, made her believe in herself, made her capable of trusting someone, and made her capable of loving and to be loved.

Shifu rebuked himself for being such a heavy-handed teacher, much draconian father, and had robbed her of the only childhood she would ever devour. And it was much too late, by the time she was twenty-two. But he had found a courage to apologize, made amends, and turn the table for good. As Po always told him. _It's better late... than never._

He exhaled deeply.

"Tigress, today... I want to make a change for us." He paused, finding his words.

 _Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn't make you who you are. It is the rest of your story – who you choose to be._

"Our story did not have such a happy beginning, you were orphaned, while I had lost a son... and for that, I've mistreated you, denying you for the paternal love you crave, and for that, I am deeply sorry. I wanted you to know... that I loved you as much as Tai Lung...dare I say more." He noticed the instant change of her facade, as his azure orbs spoke to her soul with such sincerity.

"You always make me proud Tigress,... it's my mistake to... withhold such a simple act of praise... but I truly am,... _proud_ of you... with or without the Dragon Scroll." He clasped his tiny hand, averting his gaze to hide such a shameful, morbid dereliction. Her ruby eyes did question him, interrogate him of the love she was forsaken, the childhood she was robbed, the hurt and rejection she had to endure. Remembering the look of her eyes was crushing the red panda to the throat.

"I am sorry for failing you so badly as a father... And so much more..." Dead silence greeted his announcement. Her jaw quivered, barely restrained the spilling of emotion, her notion spoke words she couldn't vocalize. Tigress fell silent, but the whirlwind of memories and thoughts filled her mind.

"But let not make those beginning to define who we are, it was the rest of our story... who I choose to be. And from today, I've chosen to be... your father." As he was muted, waiting to be swallowed by her sudden gulf of fury, or her blatant rejection to be his daughter.

Instead, a pair of stripy arm embraced him, still in silence. She nearly gave him a heart attack, probably lifted him several inches off the floor. He was stunned in thoughtfulness, enchanted in a deep moment of melancholy.

 _This_ was her pardon.

And with a hug, the gesture that she hardly even received from him. Tigress had forgiven him. Tears stung his eyes, he didn't struggle to hide. He took his time to return her gesture, patted her back and stroke her stripy head, felt warm rivulets of water landed on his shoulder where she rested her head. A simple affection that had spoke volumes of unspoken words, exchanged their common fear and sympathy, mending their torn spirit and reconciling years of neglect and resentment.

As they both parted, Shifu cleared his throat to regain his vigor. He took a lavishly engraved box, tied with a golden string.

"Please accept this. This would be a mark of our newfound relationship..." He smiled, promising himself that he'll change his way.

Tigress ran to her room, the smile that tinted her maw still glued fast and still. She opened the box to reveal a beautiful golden robe, engraved with the lily pattern all through its fronts and sleeve. _Lily means forgetting your trouble and rekindling unity, how fitting!_ The color complimented her fur color well.

There was a little note on the top, pinned with a lotus flower.

 _Forgiveness doesn't change the past but enlarges the future. - your father_

Tigress quickly wore her new _qipao_ , she spun a little, watching her other self on the reflective surface of her bedroom mirror. She smiled proudly. And as if ordained by a divine intervention, a certain bulky creature stood outside her chamber, his blunt claw tapped against the rice paper door.

"Come in!"

The panda stepped in, and almost instantly, a marvelous grin spread from one side to the other. "Tigress... you looked... bodacious!"

"Thanks, Po..." She stated simply, offering a grateful look.

"So what is the occasion?" He sat on her bedroll causing it to creak under his immense weight, interlacing his finger. His jade orbs never left her figure.

She didn't give him a word, instead, she handed out the note. And well of water began to form, glistening her golden orbs. Po understood, he quickly pulled her to sit next to him by the bed, as he locked her into his tight embrace.

"I told you this day would come, didn't I?... I am so happy for you, Tigress..."

* * *

This is my take on the reason why Tigress suddenly had a wardrobe change, and her chi ability visibly improved (notice when he kicked Kai, the golden ring emitted).

The prompt was initially thought when I spoke to Ilien, the author of 'Book of Changes' (utterly cool, you all need to read it! one of the best KFP fanfic!)

In the first KFP movie, Po looked expressively more concern about Shifu than she was. Remember the last scene where she addressed Po as _Master_? Po leaped and checked on Shifu, while she - as the daughter, seemed not to care any less. In the second movie, she didn't seem to show any affection to Shifu yet, however, she didn't look like uncaring either. On the third movie, however, when Kai injured Shifu, she quickly stood by him, with a concerned face she crouched next to him, even thinking about fighting Kai until Shifu's stopped her. They exchanged such an intense gaze, his worry that she wouldn't have time to escape, and her worry that Kai will kill him. Therefore I've concluded something must have happened between KPF 2 and KFP 3.

This story was included in my other fanfic THE WARRIORS, however, had taken perspective before Shifu and Tigress aware that Tai Lung still alive (and before KFP3). While my fanfic THE WARRIORS was taken place after KFP3.

 **Lotus** (he 荷, lian 莲) The **lotus** is the **flower** of the sixth month and summer. It is a symbol of purity because it rises out of the mud to bloom.

 **The Lily(** **百合花** **)** is said to help a person forget his troubles, it also means unity. Lily is also believed to be the best flower for weddings because in China it represents one hundred years of love.

My other complete work :

Panda Friend : s/11976931/1/Panda-Friend

My father : s/12006255/1/My-Father

Moving Out : s/11973064/1/Moving-Out

One shot drabble collection : s/11975907/12/I-Believe-in-You-and-Me


	13. Stairs

Prompt by Historyman (Thank you!), and I've extended the story a little bit.

STAIRS

KFP owned by Dreamworks

* * *

"This is outrageous...! It's been three years, and... nothing... not a single sign." Irritated and annoyed, Mr. Ping almost slammed his mahjong piece upon the table. In front of him, Shifu exhaled loudly, trying to maintain his cool.

"Maybe, it's not their time yet, no one could predict this kind of thing... we are at the mercy of Guān-shi for the heavenly provision." The red panda tried to console the agitated goose... as much as himself. "Besides, they are a panda and a tiger, maybe... maybe they couldn't have cubs on their own." The Grand Master interlaced his finger sagely.

His answer muted the goose, only for a moment anyway, as he went and ranted again, continuing his mindless drivel.

"I am not convinced, Shifu. I've lit up hundreds dozen of incense, things like this won't ever happen... especially if they are not even trying their best!" He sourly chided.

"...and how do you know that?" Cutting his gaze towards the goose, the red panda drumming his tiny finger upon the table. He stared at the goose with cynical grin tugged on his mouth. His narrative only made the goose petulant mood worsened.

"I did ask Po about it." He stated almost immediately, averting his gaze from Shifu's vindictive stare.

The red panda undeniably couldn't cover his shock and gasped loudly hearing the old goose honest rebuttal.

"What? do you think I am a pervert and try to spy them doing their business?" Mr. Ping folded his wings wryly.

"...you what?" Shifu's azure eyes nearly popped out of the socket, he couldn't believe, not only Ping dared to meddle with his son's private life, much to his incredulity, he was thick enough to ask such... insolent, lurid query. To his bemusement, the panda gave his father rather an honest answer.

Shifu pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is _unbelievable_..." he muttered to himself. But he knew, as affectionate and sensitive he might be, Mr. Ping could be as obstinate as Po on a certain subject, may be more. For the giant panda, it was food and kung fu. Thanks to his stubbornness, he managed to train just in one night to defeat the Master of Thousand Scroll who had been dedicating himself to the art of Kung Fu all his life - even though Po humbly replied the element of 'certain fluffiness' had shielded him from the leopard's notable nerve attack. For Mr. Ping, his obstinacy was relating to his business profit and... grand-cubs!

For as long as Shifu remembered, even before his adopted daughter was officially courted by Mr. Ping's son, he already dropping hints virtually everywhere. Started from subtle ones - like showing Tigress how cute was Po when he was a cub, to a direct lecture how important it was for Dragon Warrior to have an heir to follow his legacy... and for him to have someone to inherit and continue his noodle shop business.

And it's just got worse by the day, especially now they were married, having cubs suddenly had been pushed to the top of the list on the priority agenda.

First, Mr. Ping forced Shifu to let the two of them owned a house down in a village, to give them much needed privacy their required, even though Shifu insisted the housing extension behind the communal bath would suffice for that purpose, and saving Po from having to sojourn and battle his nemesis every morning. Seeing nothing had happened after a few months, again, in his plea to Shifu to alleviate his training regime, even to the point Shifu had to lecture Tigress on how to ' _relax_ ' and enjoy ' _other pursuit_ ' than just train. His latest attempt was to ask Shifu to send both of them to ' _fake_ ' mission together, in which the rest of the four started to get very suspicious about the frequency of such fruitless journey. Not to mention numerous visit to the doctor, and various herbs had been prescribed, but the expert confirmed nothing wrong with the panda or the tiger.

Still, after all those attempt to encourage them, Ping was devastated to see no such result. Shifu turned to see the crestfallen feature of the goose in front of him. Although he shared a certain amount of sympathy about having grand-cubs, Shifu wasn't too fussy about when and how they would get it.

"They had to try harder. Then I'll rest my case." The goose loosely folded his wing. His voice was still portraying exasperation.

"I am pretty sure it's not Tigress's fault. She is a feline. She had more... drive than a panda." Shifu reminded Ping how the pandas, even without Lord Shen attack, were always small in number compared to other creatures. Simply because procreation wasn't their natural proclivity, it was more like a chore to them.

"But I had an idea..." The Grand Master leaned closer and signaled Ping to follow suit.

* * *

That night, the wise Grand Master summoned Po to see him in the Hall of Warriors... alone.

"Looking for me, Master?" He bowed and grinned widely... as per usual. Shifu cleared his throat and continued.

"Po... now you are Dragon Warrior, Oogway Successor, and maybe one day a Grand Master of this place. It comes to me that... you need to conquer your biggest enemy... your greatest adversary..."

"Aw man... is that the stairs?" Po moaned at the prospect. The Grand Master smiled cryptically.

"Don't worry Po. I promise you there'll be rewards waiting." He smirked meaningfully. The panda artfully knotted his brows but decided to not question his Master's provision.

The Grand Master went on and explained that Po had to go up and down the thousands step with two buckets of water, ten times every morning before the gong rang. At the end of the step, he'll place his favorite food of noodle and dumpling that he could freely savor.

The next day, he instructed Tigress to come every day, half an hour before the gong, accompanied Po to eat his breakfast, and then two of them would be given scrolls to read. They didn't have to train until two hours later, but they had to stay in their private chamber by the bath house. It was such a weird instruction, but figuring out he could benefit extra hour of sleep after doing the stairs and eating his father's food without cooking nor paying, sounded like a pretty good deal.

A week has passed since that day, and although painful to start with, Po's stamina quickly improved leaps and bounds. He was getting faster doing his laps, with the help of enticing smell of the noodle and dumpling, and Tigress who cheered him, made him far more determined to proof he could do it. He noticed the noodle tasted a little different, but he still liked it.

In no time, he became less flabby, the stack of muscles delineating his torso and biceps began to show as he flexed his arm, his wet fur further accentuated his underlying muscular form. Even Tigress swore she had never seen Po's figure as delicious as he currently was, especially the angry look he had before his adversary - _the stairs_. The cuddly and affable panda would suddenly become intimidating, his brows furled tightly, his chest squared, the ferocious glint in his eye that said he wasn't to be messed with, how his shoulders tensed and his spine straightened. Even surprisingly to her... he kind of looking... hotter when infuriated.

Then after all those physical training was done, they could eat, and free to stay in the hot tub or their room all morning, with a stack of scrolls Shifu had assigned them to read, from tea making, herbal remedy... dumpling making.. to sewing. Tigress was quizzical what was the aim of the exercise. Nonetheless, like her usual self, she relented because Shifu said this was an important part of her _'soft skill training'_ to equalize her hardcore-ness.

* * *

Three years had passed since that cub-experimental pursuit, and whatever they were exactly doing - it had clearly worked, all too well perhaps. In the short span of three years, Tigress had given birth to 6 cubs. Xiao Po, the oldest was three, Mei and Mai, the twins were two, Hu-i, Hu-Er... and Hu-San, the triplets were four months old.

And today was Tigress' first time, after her prolonged maternity leave, to join the five and Dragon Warrior on one week mission.

Shifu, Ping and Li Shan had volunteered to take care of the cubs in turn. The first two days were Ping and Li's turn, as Shifu had an important visit from the Shaolin Council to attend. Subsequently, Shifu would take over the cubs for three consecutive nights, and then the last two would be back at the Pings. All sounded good and well, Tigress and Po packed all the cubs toys, linens, pants, clothing into one big pile, which to their horror had occupied nearly the entire Ping's kitchen. Even Zeng was already dreading the fact he and some of his fellow servants needed to haul that many kinds of stuff to the palace thousand steps.

At Dragon Warrior Noodle and Tofu Restaurant - Upstairs, Li had his own battle. His task was simple - changed three nappies. However, the reality was nothing as simple as it sounded. He got all three on Po's bed, as he knelt down to made Hu-i laid on his back. The cub continued to struggle, so Li had to pin him with one of his paws, and his idle paw tried to grab the clean linen clothing for the cub's diaper. As soon as he did that, he saw Hu-Er at the edge of the bed, and Hu-San's body already half dangling precariously upside down at the opposite side of the bed.

 _Oh my gosh!_ He quickly grabbed the two cubs and placed them back next to Hu-I.

 _Hmmm... so what shall we do with this?_ He stared blankly at the blue linen square and a safety pin. He spent a moment of respite trying to recall how to do a diaper. A prior experience he thought would help had not made any difference whatsoever, especially when the last nappy he did was 35 years ago.

 _Ok, let's have a go!_ But as soon as he occupied himself, pouring his attention and focus to Hu-I, the other two started to crawl away and end up with hazardous position around the bed. Li decided it's safer to let them wandering on the floor. So he did, and get back to Hu-I diaper changing challenge. It took him a little more time than he had to. On his first attempt, the look of the fold mimicking steam dumpling he had last night.

 _This doesn't look right._ So he tried again. By the third try, he had come up with something... _decent_. And as his eyes were peering over the other two, he saw Hui-Er sucking on Po's shuriken, while Hui-San... was nowhere to be seen.

"No no... that's not a toy." He quickly snatched the shuriken from the cub - which caused the cub to wail in irritation. Consecutively, he tried to look for Hui-San. He grabbed both Hui-I and Hui-Er in his arm, made a silly bouncing motion to soothe them while sauntering around the room checking every corner and gaps. As Hui-Er stopped crying, he heard a faint whimper from the corner of the room. It was Hui-San, he had trapped himself under the dragon costume. Li dug him up and rest him atop of his head. _Right, one down, two more to go._

Meanwhile, Mr. Ping was too involved with his own battle. Xiao Po was the only panda cub, but albeit he had a slight issue with the speed, he was the mastermind of all sort of prank. Mr. Ping blamed his dexterity must have been inherited from Tigress. While both tigress, Mei, and Mai, performed the role as his accomplice. All morning Mr. Ping was trying to contain the cubs from running outside, pulling a prank on his oblivious customers. He had pulled the crates filled with toys that their parents had provided, in an attempt to pacify the cubs from disturbing him doing his chores. But it soon became apparent. He couldn't see his kitchen floor as the toys of all sort gaining dominance, and the cubs weren't even interested in any of them anymore. Mei and Mai instead, had made a hole on his flour sack, played 'warrior' with Mr Ping's expensive cleaver, taunted each other how many bean buns they could stuff in their mouth, while Xiao-Po watched his sisters amusedly, while his mouth busy munching all the dumpling Mr. Ping had prepared for the customers.

Ok...ok... you three get out from my kitchen, but don't...make any trouble." The goose put his stern, intimidated mask on. He knew it did little to deter Xiao-Po, as ironic as his name 'little peace' may sound - there was nothing peaceful about him. He had employed his chaste, innocent, cute smile so he could get away with murder. However, two of his sisters were visibly terrified. "Yes, Gong-gong..."

Mr. Ping went back into the kitchen, mumbling incoherently to himself. "Cubs... when are they started to pick up their own toys... Ah?" He was diligently savoring the items back to the basket. "Maybe when they become parents... or grandparents..." He sighed as he answered himself. Even after half an hour, the kitchen still looked like a much larger imitation of his Secret Ingredient Soup - colorful things floating all over the place, and he had to open the restaurant in 30 minutes, not to mention that Xiao-Po had eaten all his pre-made dumplings. Right, time for reinforcement.

"Li...could you give me a hand?"

There was no answer.

"Li...! What took you so long?"

Finally, a large figure, struggling to balance three crawling cubs without haphazardly dropping any of them, Li made into the kitchen.

"Good heavens, don't tell me you spent 2 hours changing three diapers?" Mr. Ping said in a rather sinister way.

"What? Have you had any idea how impossible this task is?" Li retorted defensively.

"Ok never mind, take the cot from Po's bedroom, we'll feed them and put them to bed, and you can help me with the cleaning and cooking." Li obeyed nonchalantly. He quickly placed the cot at the dimmed corner of the kitchen, while Ping was ready with three warm bottles of milk. The cubs were quickly savored and soothed to slumber. The goose and the panda exhaled in great relief.

"Can't believe how Tigress and Po survived this." Li chuckled rather humourlessly."The last time I was here, there were only three of them... and my next visit there were six. Can't you imagine if I'll come next year there'll be..-"

"Don't..." Ping raised his wing to silent the panda. "I don't want to think about it, whatever Shifu and I were doing had to stop... before it goes out of hand."

Li brow curled his brow into a tedious knot. "You and Shifu? had to do with what?"

Ping sighed. "Three years ago, Shifu and I were discussing the heavenly providence of grand-cubs, on why Po and Tigress blissful three years marriage had not produced any single legacy. I mean, both of them were exemplary warriors, even though adoption may suit, can you imagine what kind of heritage, genetically, those two might have for greater benefit? Anyway, in short, we concluded that both of them, especially Po, wasn't too keen on the 'business' of making the cubs. No offense Li, but that's a panda nature."

Li nodded his head, and chuckled, relating that to himself- it took him eight years to own a single cub. "So what did you do?"

"So Shifu came up with a plan, to enhance's Po's stamina and his masculine drive, he had forced him to run the thousands step 10 times every morning. His rewards would be the infinite supply of my famous noodle soup and a large bowl of dumpling. And at the same time, Shifu summoned Tigress to accompany Po with his breakfast and afterward with the excuse of 'reading scroll' as part of her training, told them to head to the summer cottage by the bath house, in essence, to give them a quiet morning time together."

"That's it?" Li raised his brow,

"No...you see, I spiked my noodle soup... with some strong aphrodisiac. I even washed their bed-sheet in the summer cottage with catnip cologne." Mr. Ping admitted rather shyly.

"And in the next three years, this happens?" Li pointed out the mess in Mr. Ping kitchen. The goose nodded slowly. Li burst out laughing, so hard he fell on the floor.

"This is no joking matter Li, can you see next year you came here they may have enough cubs to make up cuju (**Chinese soccer) team!"

* * *

Wai-gong...!" The Grand Master smiled as he entered the restaurant courtyard, watching three of his older grand-cubs enthusiastically greeted him. Three of them piled on him, knocking his tiny figure. Thanks to his kung fu, those panda-tiger infusions, although nearly same size as he was, did not pose any lethal danger for the Grand Master.

"Mr. Ping..." Shifu smiled broadly at the presence of the elderly goose. The evident of the lack of sleep was very much apparent on the goose old feature.

"Master Shifu... thank goodness you are here..." The goose threw himself animatedly on one of the tables, exaggerating his tiredness.

"What's going on...in...here?" The red panda observed the restaurant was pretty much a wreck, chairs, and table everywhere, some upside down, some of the chairs even made it on the top of the wall.

"Well... it doesn't need much explaining does it?" The goose moved his gaze to little Xiao-Po whom in the middle of instructing his sisters on the game of 'throw the chair,' the one who threw the furthest earned the prize, Dragon Warrior size dumpling. Unfortunately, Mei and Mai did inherit Tigress' strength, much to Mr. Ping chagrin.

"Right...I'll called the palace servant, seems like we need some reinforcement." Shifu turned to Zeng.

"Wait... Shifu, can I speak to you in private?" Mr. Ping squeaked pitifully, Shifu looked at him incredulously but followed the goose to the back of the restaurant.

"Whatever we were doing was clearly working!" Mr. Ping said with a hushed voice.

"A little too well perhaps, Mr. Ping." The Grand Master admitted.

"...we need to stop this. Next time they came back, don't even send them on a mission together, and tell them to move back to the student barrack!"

"I can't possibly do that!" The Master backpedaled, disbelieving the goose suggestion.

"Why not?" The goose answered stubbornly.

"The last time they didn't have their privacy, they end up doing _it_ in my chamber...Zeng told me." His answered muted the goose instantly. Both of them cringed on the mental image those words had evoked. Yes, Mr. Ping didn't want them to use his bedroom as well, maybe for a different reason, but essentially robbing them from their privacy wasn't the answer.

"Then what do we do? This is a disaster! They'll have a morbid number of hybrid." The troubled goose paced back and forth frantically to ease his nerve.

"...why don't you ask Ms. Chang again, does she had herbs that can stop people having cubs. You can put that in your noodle as usual." The Grand Master solemnly suggested.

"Why didn't I think of that!"

* * *

A few days later.

"Po... here is your lunch and dinner. Enjoy! I must rush to the seamstress." The goose placed the crooks by the door of his son's house and turned to leave.

"Dad... you know...you don't have to deliver food for breakfast lunch or dinner. I am quite capable of cooking my own food." The panda tried not to hurt his dad good intention to coddle him.

"Oh no no... this not a problem at all...I much rather do this than to have a cuju team in my kitchen."

"What?"

"Never mind Son... enjoy the food."

* * *

(** the triplets name translate to Tiger One, Tiger Two... Tiger Three... have a laugh!)

"Wai-gong...!" (**grandfather from mother's side)


	14. The Hug

THE HUG

KFP owned by Dreamworks

* * *

All the while in his life. Po undoubtedly received a lot of hugs. But living as one of very few large creature, surrounded by pigs, geese, rabbits... sometimes made one forget how is it like to have someone your equal. Same size as he was, similar height, same kind of strength so he didn't have to restrain himself, worrying he would hurt someone. And stood here now, Master Tigress, not just merely standing there... he hugged her, and she hugged him back. He remembered this hug, how solid it felt compared to the feathery hug from his goose dad, or from plush hug from his panda dad. That shock came with a tug in his chest. She was perfectly placed by his side, leaning physically where his heart was, and overpowering sense of elation as he felt her arm encircled him. Her hug was paradoxically strong and tight, almost protective... yet passionate and gentle, as she had savored it only for very few selected individual.

Po hugged her, it was soft and caring, portraying his tenderness and his affection towards her. Tigress hug was strong and bold, tightly gripping him, as a reflection of her determination and earnestness to protect those she loved. And after such a disturbing turn of reality, nearly losing someone you deeply cared forever - did put things into perspective.

Under the scrutinizing eyes of other masters, her adopted father, both of his father, in fact, many citizens of the valley - they both embraced in a tight affectionate hug.

"Don't let go..." He muttered, as the eruption of emotion began to take control of his being.

She wasn't in much different place either, burying her face on his wide shoulder she began to weep.

"I won't..."

**Snippet from my latest fanfic: The Warriors


	15. Never Alone

NEVER ALONE

Inspired by s/11835316/1/Gongmen-s-Scars

I am trying to keep the character true to their personality. And as much as hinting Ti-Po here, I don't want them to rush into things. Just like in the movie, there is a lot of ship tease, but they never actually reveal their true feeling as yet. So I decide to take it slow and enjoy watching their continually growing friendship into something else. Note that KFP belongs to Dreamworks :-) Setting is right after KFP2.

* * *

 _Gongmen Harbour._

After a series of explosion decorating the heaven, the sky was darkened once again. The last fireworks depicting yin and yang gave away to instant cheer from the crowd before they arrived at their senses the state of the city that was laid before them, right after such a deadly attack to bring China down to her knee.

A pile of debris lying on the ground, mess and dust, broken window and walls - at least for people of Gongmen, of China, this symbolized freedom after it's citizen witnessed an epic battle between Lord Shen's armada being vanquished by the Dragon Warrior singlehandedly.

Some resident were aiding to find more victim of the conflict, some organizing temporary shelter and some just generally offering words of comfort to each other. But most of them started to shift their legs towards their respective home.

The Furious Five and Po were certainly tired both physically and mentally. They just cheat death on the door once more. Po rested his black arm on Tigress's and Crane's shoulder "Well done guys, we've saved China!" His voice was thick with exhaustion, but his face was beaming with pride to what everyone had accomplished.

"Dude, speak for yourself. Your last move was…. bodaciously awesome!" Mantis jumped to the bear's shoulder and patted it with his….*ahem*…. pincers.

The panda just pulled another smug grin. "It's all teamwork guys, if Tigress didn't push me aside, I wouldn't be here. And Shen would have won." Po looked at the tiger next to him. Her eyes were gazing at the dark sky above the pier, the battle in slow motion still occupying her mind. Her expression was unreadable. The bear began to get worried observing his best friend not even reacting to his words.

"Tigress… is everything alright?" Po tapped her arm, getting hold of her attention.

She glanced to meet the panda emerald orbs and hastily turned her face away. "Yes, everything is fine Dragon Warrior." She felt a certain warm feeling bubbling in her chest as the bear looked at her with grave concern gripping in his eyes. ' _Yes, he cares for me._ ' Her heart skipped a beat when his paw clutched to her arm. "I was just…. thinking." She retorted affirmatively.

Just then Shifu appeared with the city mayor, requesting for assistance from the warriors to rescue more injured civilians and took the wolves to jail. The rest of the team followed the mayor except for the two.

"Po, Tigress… both of you are dismissed. Go to the clinic and have yourself checked. You two had endured a cannon blow, and there will be a long journey back to the valley ahead of us. I want you both to recover prior to this journey, do you understand?" Shifu pointed his staff with authority. Both warriors bowed submissively to their diminutive master.

"Yes, Master."

Both of them walked to the clinic in silence.

Po saw a small bunny clutching her rugged plush toy in one arm, her body covered in soot, a lot of tiny scratches all over her, nothing serious, but he could hear her whimper. Both warriors gazed at each other, dismissing the fact that their clothes were still dripping wet, their body ached and famished from all the fighting. 'She needed help.' Tigress winced as she tried to bend and pick up the bunny.

Po quickly made the motion "Let me, you might have fractured your ribs."

The bunny was separated from her parents during the ordeal and appear to be in such a shock state she couldn't even speak. The two warriors were scouring around and asking other villagers as they had gone past. After an hour or so, he managed to find the bunny's mom, who was trapped under what appeared to be the remains of the bridge. He sighed in relief to see the bunny race to her mother's arm and engulfed in her warm tight embrace.

The panda's memories about his mother revived before him. The person who had selflessly sacrificed herself to give him a chance to live. His mind was going on rewind mode and flashing with images from the past. He felt a gentle paw on this shoulder. Po snapped out of the trance and looked at his best friend. He knew he was cold, tired, and hungry. His body was screaming from the battle. ' _Tigress must feel worse_.' But in his mind, he needed to do one more thing.

"Tigress, I know we...er... tired and such, but would you…. please….come with me? I had something to show you". His voice almost sound like pleading. Tigress was bewildered, but she didn't question him further and decided to follow him.

"Of course." She said shortly.

The duo walked along the stream for a good hour. The sun was now peeking through the leaves of trees welcoming a new day. Tigress saw an open field. Judging from the look of it, it wasn't just a field. This very place was certainly inhabited before - ruins of burn roofs, broken building and a sign of farming equipment lay scattered and had left untouched for decades.

Po stopped. And exhaled deeply, gathering all the courage before saying anything.

"This is the village where I was born."

Tigress saw his crestfallen figure as he stood with his arm hanging helplessly at his side.

"I drifted on this river when the soothsayer found me. With her help, I came to my senses and remembered who I am, where I came from". His voice started to shake. Tigress moved closer to give the panda some mental support.

Po reached out his paw and pulled out a tired looking panda doll out of his pocket. It was covered in soot and dirt, one of its eyes had fallen off. And memories flooded his mind as he looked at the only thing that connected him to his distant past.

"When Shen's army invaded the village, my dad told my mom to take me and ran into the woods. She probably knew both of us wouldn't make it should she keep on running and the wolves getting closer. So she put me inside the radish crate and left me there while the wolves continue charging on her…." Po tried to hold back his tears. "I-I never will get to see her say thank you, to ask her what her favorite food, her favorite color, and more importantly to say…. I-I love her, or to feel her warm hugs." Salty tears exuded from his emerald eyes, cascading down his cheeks.

He shivered from the thought. But then he recalled the word of wisdom from the soothsayer.' _Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn't make you who you are. It is the rest of your story, who you choose to be_ '. And the image from his moment with Mr. Ping, Shifu and Tigress appeared before him.

The smile graced his black lips, but still speaking with anguished tone.

"I know I am lucky to have my adopted dad, and the Master Shifu, and then you and the rest of the five as my family. Which why I forgave what Shen did to me. However, it doesn't stop me to realize how… alone I am. Shen had taken down everything, my origin, my panda family, my race. I had never felt so… alone". He plumped himself on the floor in desperation. "I am the last Panda in the whole China, the last of my kind."

It pained Tigress to see her best friend so sorrowful and torn. She offered her paw on his shoulder.

"Po, do you remember the moment you met me after you defeated Tai Lung?"

Po nodded. How could he forget the defining moment where the Tiger Master finally accepted him as her comrade. It's the moment of opportunity which he never took lightly. "Yes, that was awesome... that's your first smile for me, I guess.". He chuckled to himself.

"Do you know why I bowed to you and yes...I accept you not just as a Master, but as a friend."

Po had never thought about it before. In his mind, that's the way Tigress acknowledged his ability and hence deserved the Dragon Warrior title. But that would make him a fellow Master, not a friend.

She sighed pensively. "You had saved me from losing a father Po. I knew Shifu wasn't the best father ever, but I loved him. He had saved me from Bao Gu. He had saved me from myself, although he wasn't the most affectionate, he is all I have."

She turned to the bear with compassionate eyes. "Sometimes you won't appreciate people around you until you nearly lose them." Po knew exactly what she meant. Tigress and Shifu had such an unorthodox relationship. Tigress treated him as a mere teacher. She tried hard to make him proud hence earning his love. While Shifu, feeling he was responsible for turning Tai Lung into a demented formidable warrior, he refrained himself from loving anyone, including his own adopted daughter - Tigress.

Shifu did grieve for Tai Lung in private after learning about his death, but Po knew he got over it quickly, even attained inner peace right after. His action in stopping Tai Lung had made both father and daughter realized, fate had given them a second chance. A second chance to tell his daughter that she had made him proud, a second chance for her to call him father.

"Po, today your mom had given you that second chance. If it's not because of her sacrifice, we would never know you. Mr. Ping would never have a son. And I would be still punching ironwood trees. She gave you a chance to know Kung Fu, to be a Dragon Warrior, to do crazy adventures with the Furious Five, to live your dream and to be my best friend." The panda's heart expanded listening to his best friend's words. She just knew how to make him feel better.

"And don't forget Po, I am an orphan too, and I do feel alone, afraid and rejected many many times…" The sentence hit him hard on his consciousness. He completely neglected the fact that should any other creature had such a sad beginning beside him; that would be Tigress.

"Tigress…. I am sorry. I was selfish." Po huffed regretfully, making his friend dumbfounded. " I should have known better. You are as alone as I am. We are both never knew our birth parents. Nonetheless, you lend your shoulder, your ears to listen and to ease my loss and pain… while I had never thought about easing yours."

Tigress stared into his jade eyes and gave him a warm smile.

"Po, that's what friends are for…and this is your words. You are always there when I need a listening ear, and you gave me a comfort when I doubt myself. Now is no different."

She knelt in front of him, and once again their gaze connected. His heart plodded slightly faster as her crimson eyes left him enraptured. He would never expect what happened next. The tiger master pulled him into herself. He felt her paw stroking his back gently. There was nothing romantic about their hug - just like two best friends trying to find comfort from each other. Po immediately returned the hugs and for a few minutes the two best friends enjoying the warmth in each other arms, consoling their hurting soul.

She whispered softly "Po, you would never be alone. You have me. And I'll promise I'll be there for you forever. Even when one of us dies on a mission, I promise you'll be in my heart...always."

Po blushed deeply. Probably Tigress could see that beneath his white fur. She loosened the hugs and gave him a warm smile. Po suddenly felt all his burden lifted. He knew he was alone, the last Panda on earth. But being alone didn't make him feel lonely anymore.

"Tigress…. thank you".

She offered him her paw to help him stand up.

"Now, let's go, the others would be worried about us."


	16. You are Amazing!

KFP owned by Dreamworks. (I know I said it many times!)

YOU ARE AMAZING!

* * *

Crane clutched a canister with his talon. It was handed by Zeng an hour ago, but he had no courage to reveal what's inside. The canister marked with Lee Da Academy's seal, giving away a strong clue from who it might have been.

His mind trailed off to his janitor days, yes it was decades ago - and those were severely mundane days, until... he met Mei Ling - the creature responsible for changing the course of his life, transforming a humble janitor to an avid kung fu master.

"Crane you are amazing...!" Her sweet, silky voice that empowered him and instilled that confidence. Suddenly he felt he would be able to do anything and everything, in fact, nothing could stop him. Not even the fact he was a bird, and she was a mountain cat. He reminisced how Mei Ling often confided him for being too modest, often belittling his attainment, even after he victoriously grabbed that red flag on the kung fu tryouts. They were miles apart. Mei Ling was confident, friendly and inspiring. Crane, on the other hand, reserved, shy and unassuming.

Crane cursed himself for being too critical of his lack of hyper-masculinity looks, for being not intimidating enough in front of his foe, he could imagine how nice it was like to be Tai Lung. He was good looking, burly, badass, menacing and every single inch of his body was screaming of manliness. But again, he was also surprised there was a creature, like Tigress, whom assuringly would be enraptured by Tai Lung's rugged handsomeness and accolades. They were much more alike, both unparalleled warriors with a very similar background. Astonishingly, Tigress was less than interested on other felines because of the existence of fat, klutzy, infantile panda. But again, Po had a personality that impossible to hate, and presumably with her heart, Tigress could appreciate his true self behind his looks. _So, there is hope for me after all._

"Believing in yourself doesn't mean you are arrogant, Crane." That was Mei Ling's word. Her thoughtfulness probably what made him falling for her, she never judged any book by its cover, she was considerate, encouraging and kind.

 _Gah, Crane... why did you fall in love, should just fall from a bridge, it hurt less!_

It did feel strange. He was dying to know, yet afraid to find out. As soon as he remembered her - even just imagining her presence mentally, a wave of warm, thick adoration washed over him, his heart pounding against his chest. But again, when he thought about their differences, it absorbed all this intrepidity back as a size of a mustard seed. How can two creatures so different could fall in love? What love was anyway?

"Love is not about finding differences and similarity, but about making a space in your heart, and placing someone in it, shower her with the things she needs." He recalled Viper's line of advice to Po.

 _What if she did not feel the same?_

After his conversation with Po weeks ago, how life went on, whether you chose to take a chance to the unknown, or stayed behind, locked in the past, and wondered about how things could have been... And yes, admittedly Crane had been locked in the past, thinking about Mei Ling... about how things could have been if he told her his feeling earlier. He shared his uttermost grief in his life during the truth and dare - the worst feeling was regretting not having done something when he had a chance, and he had dozens of opportunities decades ago - here to the words left unsaid and thought unexpressed. But after realizing his mistake, a few weeks ago Crane had decided to let his feelings known, and sent a letter of confession to Mei Ling.

 _"You never know unless you try, Crane."_ He recalled her wisdom. He let a frustrated groan under his breath.

 _Oh well, f_ _ear will pass, but regret stayed forever._ He reprimanded himself.

He unraveled the scroll warily. He could feel his breath spluttered and his talons were shaking.

 _Dear Crane,_

 _It's so lovely to hear from you, after all this time. I appreciate how you poured your heart out on your letter to me. That must not be easy. To perfectly be honest with you, at some point, I did store a special feeling for you. You are a true gentleman, kind and considerate. Any lady would be fortunate to have you._

 _However, it's been over decades since the last time we saw each other and people changes... that includes you and I. Although at the moment I date no one, but I am concerned, that I fell in love with your past image, the shy and modest Crane that I loved. Although I am more than willing to try, I couldn't leave Lee Da, and I imagine if you couldn't leave Jade Palace, your family are there... and the Valley needs you. Sometimes, people meant to fall in love were never meant to be together, maybe we made a mistake by keeping things to ourselves so long, but mistakes teach us a lesson, not to leave regret._

 _However, I am glad you said what you need, and I've said what I need. I hope you won't regret knowing people in your life. The good one gave you happiness, bad one gave you experience, worst one gave you a lesson, best one gave you memories._

 _I hope, I'll be the last kind._

 _Let's meet up again sometimes, even when we were never meant to be a couple. I am glad I could call you a friend._

 _-Mei Ling-._

Crane read from top to bottom, scanning through it again and again. Undoubtedly, it was a rejection letter, but strange enough albeit insufferable pain the first time. It gradually subsided to eerily calming sense of achievement, that he had done the right thing - conquered his fear and left no stone unturned. Feeling liberated, the avian master let a loud sigh and went out of his room.

That night, Viper continuously fussing about her appearance. She'd changed her headdress ten times, and was on her fifth cloak. Tigress sat next to her, bewildered and irked at the same time. Lacking empathy on why it bothered so much to the serpent to look tip top in front of her date, Tigress gave her two pence worth of opinion.

"You've looked quite a dapper Viper, besides, you want to impress him with your personality, not your...outward appeal (she nearly said _vanity_ appeal)." She tried to keep her tone sounding compassionate rather than satirical. But her genuine annoyed look was painted across her face. There was one thing Tigress didn't understand: first impression, last a lifetime. But might be that's not always true, Viper mulled over what Tigress said about the importance of beauty...it's no wonder she could see beyond Po's _fluffiness_ , might be Tigress was more perceptive than she knew.

Viper flicked her eyes exasperatedly. "And what were you wearing on your date with Po?" The feline shrugged apathetically. "...training outfit?" She stated as if questioning the serpent's disapproving stare. In return, she was only greeted by the serpent shocked gaze. Viper mentally slapped her head. Of course! She was talking to one of the creature that did not know word _romanticism_ in her vocabulary, and possibly thought love was a waste of time. Citing Shifu's word to the feline back on the day when Furious Five was just formed, Viper understood why Tigress had been reluctant to enter any meaningful relationship. "You are going to be a Kung Fu Master, relationships take a back burner to such greatness." or "You have more important matters to attend to than… male companionship." But with a bit of luck, seemed like Tigress had a better side of the deal, her hard-to-get personality, and her enthralling natural beauty acted like a magnet, but her fiery temper was the balancing factor in the universe, lest no men in Valley of Peace would be left for other girls.

After another 30 minutes of meddling her closet, and Tigress helped to groom her scale to shine, Viper was ready for her date. To Tigress, her friend looked painfully glamorous - a little over the top. She wore a slightly larger, more noticeable headdress, put enough amount of makeup. A beaded pearl choker hung delicately on her neck (neck?! really? oh well... whatever), completed with her embroidered woolen cape. An overwhelming scent of crushed peach blossom and exotic orchid nearly choked Tigress' cat senses.

Tigress saw Crane carried Viper on his talons, as he slid gracefully down the valley.

The date began quite swimmingly, both of them went to Mr. Ping for dinner, and then strolled around the town. Viper found out. Crane was a very modest and humble person, sometimes even downplayed his achievement. But other than that, he was a true gentleman, polite and respectful. Viper was very much aware of Mei Ling, after the truth and dare in the tub, Crane disclosed a lot more detail of his blooming friendship with the mountain cat. That's because he was completely ignorant of growing affection the serpent had for him. But Viper had learned to accept that and just took the day as it went.

Unfortunately, their date was uncouthly intervened when a group of croc bandit decided to rampage the busy market square. Both Viper and Crane had to act quick. The avian master glided gracefully on his wing and aimed a sharp blow on one of the crocodile's head. He quickly saw where Viper was, engaging with two crocs, delivering stunning kicks with a single lash of her tail. Crane swept his gaze watching a few crocs attempted to flee from the scene, carrying money boxes which apparently belonged to someone else. He caught up with them, within short distance launching his Wing of Justice, causing the crocs to stumble and fall, Viper nimbly assisted him on the case and rendered most of them unconscious. Crane made his way back to the market square to deal with the rest of the gang when he heard Viper's choking yelp.

His world fell silent, one of the croc had gained his consciousness and held Viper by her neck and tail, and put her body into a knot. He firmly gripped the helpless serpent, whom now dangerously vulnerable as she was tangled into a knot, immobilized completely. He deliberately tightened his grip around Viper's neck, and by the look of her dreadful expression of silent cry that overwhelmed by the commotion around him, Crane knew, if he didn't do anything, one of his comrades would be gone for good.

He suddenly forgot that he was alone, among a dozen of crocs, none of his comrade he could call for help. It's a miracle that he could hear her rasping appeal from the cacophony of panicking crowd, and a few more crocs bandits whom trying to hoard any precious stuff they could find. Crane hurled to his friend side with impossible speed, knocking the crocs that held her in the process. When he flew back, he saw Tigress, Po, Monkey, and Mantis were on the case. He sighed in instant assuagement.

They finally rounded up all the crocs.

"Crane, you are amazing!..." Her dazzling turquoise eyes praised him."...thanks for saving me..."

"No... no...no...that was nothing." A light blush formed at his cheeks at gentle teasing.

"Of course it was something..." Tigress inexpressively retorted."You had swept most of them before we came, and... managed to save your date too." Then Tigress condoned herself back to walk with the rest of the team, giving much-needed privacy for Crane and Viper.

"Maybe... usually Tigress and other would be around, and... you feel you are just a small part of the team. Even though, you are a crucial part of us. There certainly a lot of battle we won't claim victories if you weren't part of it." Viper said sincerely as Crane flying low (right in front of the rest), taking both of them back to the palace. "You just need to keep reminding yourself of that."

Crane felt a strange feeling crept into his chest. Was it courage? Empowerment? A realization hit him. She was the comrade who was always siding him, be a listening ear, encouraged him, believed in him... despite his ineptitude, and lack of masculine charm. Viper was someone that had accepted his past, supported his present, and encouraged his future.

 _Maybe today was a beginning of something?_

* * *

Moving on: It's just a chapter in the past, but don't close the book. Just turn the page!


	17. Zeng

KFP owned by Dreamworks.

ZENG

R&R... also I am in the middle of writing another story: The Warriors. Do have a peek if you have time :-)

* * *

He was a dark feathered goose, named Zeng. All his life, since he was fifteen, he had been recruited by his uncle to join the army of servants working for Jade Palace.

Today was his first day, and he was greeted with Master Shifu, the highest man in command, the Master of Jade Palace, second to some weird and old looking tortoise. Oogway.

"You'll be working as a palace messenger Zeng." A stern voice and one feeble hand appeared from under the sleeve of his robe, offering the newest recruit a scroll detailing all his conduct, responsibility, wages along with a rather opulent looking sandalwood scented box.

"Here is the outline of your job, what I, as your Master, expect from you. And that is your uniform." Shifu's frail looking limb gestured towards the mysterious looking box. Zeng took the scroll and thanked the Master respectfully.

Days turn into months, and months into years. There was a lot of things Zeng had learned, through observing, about the life of Jade Palace occupants. First, his boss, Master Shifu, was a rather strict, grave, crotchety, red panda who was obsessed in... training. He was a draconian, oppressive, dictatorial teacher, sometimes often impaled drastic, brutal, harsh punishment to his students upon breaking his rule.

To Zeng, some of the red panda's rule ranging from a mere common sense to borderline unnecessary, like he demanded all his pupil to greet him by the door when the gong sound, never use casual words when speaking to him, never commented or making any derogatory remarks about his ear! (either the size or the twitching), all his student had to address him as Master, and that include his son and daughter, no one should disturb his meditation or his meal time.

As boring as those rules sound, a lot of the time, for no apparent reason, the Jade Palace students seemed to enjoy breaking it. Shifu first notable student, was a snow leopard called Tai Lung. He was the creature who had turn Shifu's life upside down in many ways. Zeng alerted Shifu when he saw the little cub outside the palace gate. Shifu adopted him as a son, and before Zeng knew it, the snow leopard had begun showing talent in kung fu. He was a promising warrior and a hero, incredibly strong, his movement was executed with high precision, impossible speed, brazen and untamed. Zeng witnessed, how the snow leopard had turn Shifu's cold heart, lonely days, into cheerful, sweet, contented, and meaningful part of his life. His arrival in Jade Palace brought one change that almost never happened before.

Shifu smiled.

In fact, Zeng heard him laughed.

It's no doubt that Shifu's love for Tai Lung radiated to every corner of his life, he was his pride and joy. He taught him with such a passion, he parted everything he knew, shared all his secret and his dreams. However, Tai Lung was so focused in training to earn his heart's desire, perfecting his form, achieving victory at any cost, that he had unintentionally forgotten the emotional side of being a true warrior.

But something happened that turned such a pinnacle of heroism, exemplary warrior, into an omen, a father nightmare, a disgrace in kung fu and the valley's most abominable foe. The usual tension of conversation among Shifu, Oogway, and the snow leopard turned into a serious, deadly brawl. In which, the snow leopard whom apparently felt denied of his right to be a Dragon Warrior, tried to obtain the Dragon Scroll by force, resulting him to be bounded in impregnable Chorh-Gom prison.

Zeng, in his silence, could only witness how a broken man Shifu was. He had never seen Shifu loved anyone like the snow leopard, before or since. Even when a little tiger cub arrived in Jade Palace, apparently adopted by Shifu. But again, in Zeng opinion, the red panda failed again, as a Master, as a Father, to the little girl.

Tigress only knew training was her life. She had never had cub-hood. While her friends would spend time playing with other kids, going to school, Tigress instead would ingrain in the unsociable training schedule, and sat in solitary confinement reading her scrolls. But Zeng had to admit, as much as he sympathized with the cub, he was at the same time perplexed. To his astonishment, Tigress had grown up into undeniably amazing, platinum soul warrior, intense women that many had grown to admire.

However even after she showed such loyalty, hardworking, and dedication - she never actually earned Shifu's fatherly love, his approval, and his praise. During the years, Zeng often found Tigress cried in reclusion of barrack room, sometimes under the peach tree, or in front of the training hall. He knew what inflicted her, but had no idea how to offer a gesture of consolation, so he would just place his wings and tap her shoulder gently, saying _one day... someday... it would change for the better, little one_. Thankfully, sometimes, the old, crazy, tortoise with a cryptic message, made his sudden appearance and he was the only one who could comfort Tigress, hoisted her hope, and boost her confidence in herself.

Years pass by, Shifu recruited more students, first was a bird, and an insect, later a serpent and a primate. Zeng secretly pleased that the tigress won't be alone anymore, for once, she would have friends - someone who would fight alongside her, someone who could share her uttermost fear and understood her dilemma. Alas no..., the cold treatment from Shifu had made the girl stoic, cold persona, unyielding by a touch of words and affection. Tigress did make them acquaintances and comrades. However, it was never more than professional attachment.

The rest of the years, as Shifu's trust grew in him, Zeng found himself in charge of cleaning the student barrack. There and then, in secrecy, he learned about each Master darkest secret, some are more embarrassing than others. For example, Master Crane secretly collected scented fabric and had a crush with a mountain cat name Mei Ling. Master Monkey secretly hid a mountain of exotic gin and tonic which looked like nicked from Shifu's personal collection. Master Mantis disguised a pile of girlfriends' love-letter in between his acupuncture spools, just to trick Shifu into finding them. Master Viper smuggled a stash of lurid, corny women novels underneath her bed. And Master Tigress... she owned... a memoir, which later on, Zeng learned, had said a lot about another side of her no one knew.

His life in the palace was uneventful regardless of that revelation. The Masters and himself never conversed with him in a personal level. They kept themselves to themselves. So for Zeng, watching the Masters interacted, it was like watching a real life soap opera, especially when he learned that Master Viper apparently fell for the avian master, whom Zeng knew still in touch with his first love. (whom later on Zeng found out from her letter, thought nothing of him but a friend. Complicated?! So you think).

But all about to change when the newest recruit joined the army of warriors. His name was Po Ping, an obese, giant panda, with severe appetite disorder, dimwitted grin, and contagious optimism. At first, Zeng thought that Shifu was going to expel him, since everyone, save from Oogway - the wacky eccentric tortoise who chose him as Dragon Warrior - apparently hated him to the core. They were saying the panda was a disgrace to kung fu, he couldn't even see his toe!

However, one thing Zeng learned that the panda was a nimble, incredibly talented chef - soon enough other students warmed up to him through his culinary bribery, all except for a particular tiger.

But things soon changed. Oogway passed away, and on his last parted message, he had requested Shifu to believe in his judgment and accepted, trained Po as the Dragon Warrior, because the imminent threat to the valley was looming, and only him could stop it. In his vivid recollection, Zeng still remembered how Shifu summoned him to meet Vachir, the leader of Anvil of Heaven, to warn against Tai Lung possible escape. Who might think that his feather played a role in Tai Lung epic breakout?

Thankfully - Master Oogway's prophecy about the panda also came to light. That panda actually did it! Surpassing everyone's expectation, he defeated Shifu's former student, his estranged son, from destroying the valley once again. However, deep down, Zeng very much aware, Shifu would never forget his love for the snow leopard.

The days returned to normality, albeit, slow positive change in the attitude of Shifu and Tigress towards the panda had become more apparent. The fat panda had proven himself, to others, and to himself - that he was indeed worthy of his title - the Dragon Warrior.

There were times whereby anyone would doubt the panda as a worthy enough warrior to carry such dignitary. For Zeng, it was the day when Po's broke the Urn of Whispering Warriors for the third time (right after it took him the entire evening to fix it a week prior). And a few years after that, it happened again. However, the Dragon Warrior claimed it was his panda dad's fault. Zeng started to wonder whether he just proved clumsiness was hereditary.

But Zeng knew the panda was different from the rest. The panda had inhaled a new life to the Jade Palace, with his pathetic joke, clumsiness, creating the light and jovial atmosphere seems to cleanse every soul. It was easy to see why everyone loved Po, grinning ridiculously as he often did, hid behind that was a humble yet mighty warrior China had never seen.

As the prophecy foretold, he would bring peace in China, in everyone's heart. Even as mundane as everyday life, Po had brought a perpetual aura of joy and happiness to anyone he met, including the tiger.

Things made such an interesting twist between the panda and the tiger. In all unlikelihood, both creatures, despite previous unpleasant history and pastime pretenses, had become a close friend. In his reserved opinion, Zeng got a hint that the panda was a fanatical devotee of kung fu, and the tiger was his first target of his severe idolatry. His crush was eminent when Shifu asked Tigress to perform a demonstration, turning a few plank of clay, massacred them into mere rubble and dust. The panda ogled in admiration. At first, the tiger was just tolerating him, lurking around her. But soon, his stupid ecstatic grin, his unyielding affection, his sensitivity to other's feeling, and his admirable ability to listen to others, rubbed off on her. Before long she had willingly returned those friendly gestures, even participating in some ludicrous action the panda prompted her.

Although it took years to formed, grew and nurture, that friendship seed Zeng had witnessed long way back, had grown into something more. It was hard to explain but simple to see. Two creature who seemed so different, yet so right for each other and so perfect together. How can they arrive in such an intimate relationship? Zeng would never know. Indeed love was such a simple four letter word, yet it could mean most complicated things and defined in thousands different way.

And soon, as the suspicion of other brimming higher, Zeng found himself a newly appointed position from Shifu.

 _As his spy._

And while some might accuse him of being the busy body, Shifu felt it's his duty to find out what was going on. Gaining an access into everyone personal stuff as he often did, Zeng had become Shifu's eyes and ears in the place inaccessible to him. Zeng had confirmed Shifu's initial conjecture that something indeed erupted between his adopted daughter and Dragon Warrior, not that he would mind to the least. Po was a very decent man, loyal, honest, and he always treated Tigress discreetly and respectfully.

So that what he said.

But Zeng knew how hard for every father, even the coldest, unloving looking one, to have their daughter courted by a man. When Tigress was picked up by Po for his date, Shifu told him, it felt like handing over a million yuan ruby to a gorilla.

Zeng got the idea.

However, as many lovers did... and Zeng blamed it on the lack of privacy as a student, not to mention Tigress's self-deprecating obsession about her hardcore self, away from all things mushy and sappy, meant that two of them often had to sneak those intimate moment between them. Even though Shifu and their comrades already knew, alas, even gave them their blessing. The panda and the tiger still preferred to secrete their intimate exchange of affection to themselves. A few time Zeng saw them making out in the kitchen, under the peach tree, in the bath house, in the corner in the training room (right behind the weapon rack!), and many other. He was relieved when the two warriors officially tied the knot - to his horror, the scenario had turned to the worse, as the make out moment shifted one gear higher in term of intimacy.

Zeng had no idea why Shifu was not giving them a room on their own, after all, they were rightfully and legally married. Everyone knew, they lived inside the quarter which walls and doors consisted of commodity made of thin paper. A passerby could clearly hear the conversation reverberating from the corridor, and even with no sound, just a single candle enough to delineate every movement, even worse - if he added a pinch of his raunchy imagination.

But nothing would shock Zeng, as much as what he thought, the most unlikely place to perform their business.

 _Shifu's chamber._

When one looked at it, it simply made sense. It was the only bedroom in the entire palace that had a door and a lock, plus, its distant proximity to the rest of other rooms.

Shifu's bedroll was simple. Unlike the Lotus suite, which also enjoyed such privacy, one did not have to worry about tarnishing the bedsheet, breaking any expensive ornamental piece, nor suffocated from inhaling too much sandalwood incense.

It had been weeks since Zeng had not caught them making out (and to be honest, he slightly missed it), just to find out he would receive triple pay for what he asked for.

He was casually sweeping the Hall of Heroes, and naturally after had done with that, he would proceed to tidy up Shifu's room. The Grand Master was on three weeks assignment in Chang'an, accompanying the Imperial Troops. Not anticipating anyone to be inside, Zeng nonchalantly unlocked the door with the spare key Shifu had given him, slammed open the door as wide as he could, just to see two Masters in a compromising position on Shifu's bedroll. Zeng was mentally thanking Master Viper for giving Shifu that vermillion, lurid looking blanket for the lunar festival, which at that very moment covered both of their midriffs. His eyes were permanently wide with trauma, his cheeks pale with terror, his bill rattled, making series of clacking sound as he locked gaze with both creatures. Zeng felt like he could ask Master Crane to peck his eyes out.

To his surprise, both Master just smiled, of course halting their business, and Master Po - which he would imagine going to blab incoherently, instead, grabbing his ludicrous patchy pants, and...approached him in quite a suave manner.

"Uhmmm...sorry Zeng, if you wanted to sweep the floor, could you... get back...later? probably another 30 minutes?"

For several horrifying moments, Zeng just froze and dazed. Even Master Po's clicking finger in front of his eyes did nothing. As soon as his strayed soul made way into his being, Zeng found himself nodded rather expectantly.

"And yes, don't worry... you won't have a nightmare, I'll help you to do a meditation that could...uhh... erase those... _images_."

 _Click_. And the door closed.

The goose obviously ran as far as possible from the door. At the moment he hoped he knock into some of those crazy looking battle armor, suffer a concussion, and had an amnesia. Or probably he could lock himself inside Su Wu sarcophagus.

Zeng was troubled. What should he say when Shifu got back? Personally, Zeng had nothing against Master Po and Master Tigress, and he felt he would betray their trust to expose them to Shifu. It's not their fault to end up there.

Luckily for him, before Shifu returned from his mission, he found, Mr. Ping took matter into his hands... (hang on, I mean wings!)

"Zeng..."

"Oh... hi Mr. Ping... looking for Grand Master?"

"Uh oh, no... actually I wanted to speak to you." The old goose nervously answered. Zeng was bewildered. Mr. Ping watched his surrounding carefully and pulled Zeng to the side. He whispered lowly to him, as he pushed a stash of paper into his wing.

"Here is some coupon for the restaurant, it's free lunch for a year... but you must promise me, never tell Shifu anything that happened in that room! _Understand_?!" Zeng raised his brows. _Was this a kind of…. bribery? But yes… a very good deal indeed._

"...y-yes Mr. Ping." He stammered reluctantly.

The old goose chuckled.

"Thanks Zeng for your understanding...If I were to be a granddad, I'd treat you for another year worth of lunch."

Zeng sighed. He didn't know whether to feel elated, relieved, guilty or worried. Indeed… working in Jade Palace had been…. interesting.


	18. TigressPo in 50 sentences

KFP owned by Dreamworks

TiPo in 50 Sentences

* * *

1\. Master

She placed her fist against her open palm. "Master." And a small curl gripped her maw. Po swore he would beat Tai Lung twice to witness the same smile.

2\. Plan

Nothing wittier than planning to cook rice in his stomach by eating it raw and drank some boiling water.

3\. Attraction

"Panda….focus!" Didn't matter how many time he told himself to focus on his assault, he found himself losing the battle against the deeply captivating striped figure, who at this instant tried to kill him on their spar. Apparently, attraction was a much bigger enemy than she ever was.

4\. Aware

She leaped into the air performing an acrobatic split kick in the air with such gracefulness and accuracy, obliterating the bricks into fragmented debris. She was well aware of a pair of emerald orbs fixated to her form all this time.

5\. Comfort

On the cold winter night on the top of the roof, she was leaning comfortably against his shoulder, both snuggled tightly under a piece of blanket and hearing him strumming his ruan while serenading a number of sappy tunes with his husky voice.

6\. Smile

Before she met him, she had never known how it was like to be able to look at someone and smiled for no reason.

7\. Touch

She was astonished that she could feel his paw touching hers as they were floating helplessly on the top of wooden planks. That was the first time she regretted punching the innocent ironwood trees for twenty years.

8\. Tears

When she thought he was dead, her heart ached…. badly. She let a solitary tear slid down her unwilling eye, as her spirit mourned him wordlessly. And she realized the truth of a proverb: _If you make a girl laugh, she likes you, if you make her cry, she loves you._

9\. Captivating

Tigress never knew a large, corpulent panda could be so captivating while he was nimbly incorporating his chopping skill and his kung fu knowledge in the kitchen.

10\. Laugh

A sweet rendition rang into his ears as he tripped on his own toe and trampled down the Thousand Stairs. Soon, before he stood up, her stripy arm extended and offering him the much-needed help while still giggling boisterously.

11\. Sick

He placed his palm on the top of her forehead. "No… I don't think you are sick." He retorted after the feline master came to his bedroom to kiss him.

12\. Hug

She was perfectly placed by his side, leaning physically where his heart was, and overpowering sense of elation as he felt her arm encircled him. Her hug was paradoxically strong and tight, almost protective... yet passionate and gentle, as she had savored it only for very few selected individuals.

13\. Kiss

Keeping his arms tightly around her slender figure, the panda absently gave her a kiss on her forehead and whispered, "...I love you Tigress…to the spirit realm and back." She smiled, very much sated being the passive recipient of his affection. It was a mere brush of his lips, but it held a powerful promise of the future to come.

14\. Freedom

He destroyed her wall brick by brick and sending her soul free. No more scroll to prove her ability, no more title to define her, no more insecurity that she wasn't good enough. Locked in his embrace, he had reassured her… that she was free to be herself.

15\. Approval

"I don't need to have the noodle dream to earn my father's love, neither do you need a Dragon Scroll to gain Shifu's approval."

16\. Incredulity

When Shifu found out, his adopted daughter had a secret relationship with particular Dragon Warrior. In his mind, never in a million years, Tigress would fall in love… even to other majestic tigers, let alone a rotund panda.

17\. Hate

Then he knew that he loved her so much that he couldn't even hate her for breaking his heart.

18\. Don't let go

"Don't let go..." He muttered, as the eruption of emotion began to take control of his being, tears flew down uncontrollably from his eyes. She wasn't in a much better form either, burying her face on his wide shoulder she began to weep.

"I won't..." She muffled.

19\. True Love

Waiting is a sign of true love, anyone could say I love you, but not everyone could wait and prove it's true.

20\. Dramatic Entrance

He crashed landed in front of her, stole the scroll she had worked for all her life, claimed her title and crushed her dreams. But Tigress couldn't imagine her life without him.

21\. Relationship

They started as adversaries and ended their relationship closer than a best friend.

22\. Promise

"I can't promise I'll fix all your problems, but I can promise you won't face them alone."

23\. My Warrior

Sometimes your knight in shining armor is just a retard in tin foil.

24\. Relief

As soon as he laid his eyes on her, something seemed to let go inside of him. Every muscle went slack and limp as he let a huge explosive sigh. "Tigress… thank goodness you are alive."

25\. Capable

He was the first creature who showed her what love capable of changing.

26\. Unconscious

Heavily, he opened his eyes and trying to make sense the blurry orange and black silhouette in front of him. He blinked once…. twice…. It was Tigress, smiling softly as she retorted, "Dragon Warrior… I take it you are not ready to live from a single dew from the gingko leaf and energy of the universe."

27\. Unsure

"...oh gosh, does my breath smell?"

Tigress laughed, "...no Po, but….. I can do it again if you are unsure." Before he could rebut any word of protest, her muzzle mashed into his, this time, a lot more fervent, heated and passionate.

28\. Plea

Tigress wondered where all her disciplines had gone in the face of panda's plea for food.

29\. Paper

Tigress stared at her adoption paper. She had been working on it for decades… Waiting for the words from the aging parchment to transpire into a living reality. But it never did, until Po came around and helped her father gained inner peace.

30\. Fate

Tigress was not scared anymore because she knew at the end - fate would either bring them together or would bring something better.

31\. Without

He was bold without being arrogant, entertaining without being annoying, endearing without being fake, a great listener without being mute, full of wisdom without being patronizing. He was able to captivate her in an adorable fashion that melt her heart and a huge ecstatic grin on his amiable face.

32\. Confess

Unlike many other time, at this very second, after processing many riots of emotions that began to well up with her - Tigress was sure, she was certain of her answer.

She loved him.

33\. Close call

Just as both of them were sure her life was about to end at the heinous hand of their adversaries, fate had given them another chance.

34\. Creepy

Po thought it was rather creepy to see Shifu's cerulean eyes twitched when he asked for his permission to court Tigress.

35\. Incentive

Besides food, there was only one other thing that would force the panda to go an extra mile: getting Shifu's approval to let him took Tigress for a date.

36\. Public displays

Lunging in each other's arm, both creatures could not contain the joy. Caring nothing about consequences, embarrassment, future questioning, shifting expectation, and disregarding about dozens of infatuated eyes fixated on them.

37\. Suspicious

Crane thought he must be the only one with obscene imagination, but he swore he saw two silhouettes moving about Po's bedroom in the middle of the night.

38\. Shock

Everyone's eyes jolted in shock to see Tigress cradling a black and white infant tiger in her arms. After their four-month mission, this was the last thing for either Shifu nor Po wished to see. The Grand Master glared a twisted stare at the panda who immediately denied,"... wait, but… it's not mine! I swore… she'll maim me before I could even take her sash off… let alone her clothes!" and Crane absently announced, "Not me either, the stork was off duty delivering babies due to the critical mission…" And all the bickering was put to rest as Tigress explicated she was merely babysitting for a friend.

39\. Accident

Tigress was flustered after the panda tripped over his toes and fell down on the top of her, ending in an unintentional kiss in the middle of the rambunctious market square. But again, Master Oogway did say 'there are no accidents.'

40\. Habit

She blamed it on her feline instinct, but there was an unbridled urge to coil her tail around his leg every time they sat next to each other in the kitchen.

41\. Endowment

Po couldn't decide how much to give to Shifu as the wedding dowry, not because he was loaded with money. Because as much as his sentiments were concerned, Tigress was indeed... priceless… no amount of gold nor gift would ever repay Shifu for raising such beautiful maiden and fearless warrior like her.

42\. Business Sense

Mr. Ping was a good man, an excellent father, and an impassioned business man. But to exchange her wedding confetti into restaurant coupon was one step too far.

43\. Different

They were two creatures who seemed so different, yet so right for each other. Hard to explain, but so easy to see.

44\. Dream

When he cracked open his emerald orbs, he captured her gorgeous form stirring next to him - the most beautiful woman in China, the Kung Fu master he zealously admired. When he thought, this was a mere figment of his vivid dream, thThen he realized, he was living his dream.

45\. Cubs

Tigress was confident, her father and Mr. Ping had schemed a plan to get her to fall pregnant as soon as possible, to the extent of locking her and Po inside the room and not allowing them to come out until the sun was down.

46\. Greatest Thing

From the very beginning, he was told he was destined for the greatest thing, but being a father wasn't one of them.

47\. Proud

The old master cradled the tiny form within his skinny arm, a tiny bead of water fell from his prideful eyes as he announced, "well-done Tigress… I am always proud of you."

48\. Pancakes

After an intense few hours, disheveling the kitchen, burning numerous ingredients, breaking pans and bowls and several burnt marks. Mr. Ping concluded the cub had inherited Tigress' gene when it came to culinary proclivity, and all they tried to do was to make a pancake.

49\. Worth the wait

They stood in the empty clearing amidst the Palace arena. The panda said pensively, "Do you remember… our fate met here, at this very spot… many, many years ago." She nodded and held his paw in hers. "There was no point of rushing fate… because the best thing, is worth the wait."

50\. In Loving Memory

The panda stood under the grove of ironwood trees, staring petulantly at her gravestone which was withered with age and nearly destroyed by elements of nature. The script etched on the stone was slowly disappearing together with rolling of time:"Laid here my true love, leaving a memory no one can steal, and heartache no one can heal."

Closing: Reunion.

He bade his final goodbye to his students as the peach petals slowly wrapped his figure. When he opened his eyes again, he was greeted with numerous familiar faces, his two fathers, his old master, his cohorts and… the love of his life. She girded her stripy arms affectionately against his neck. "Welcome, home Dragon Warrior…the wait has finally over."


	19. Valuable

KFP owned by Dreamworks.

VALUABLE

A double take on Kippis05 Drabble, and incorporated into 'The Warriors'

* * *

"Tigress… I wanted to give you something. I was thinking to give you after the war ended… but, something nagging in my mind, and telling me to do it earlier."

"Is this something expensive?"

"No… no, it's not." He answered, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Valuable?"

"Nah… don't think so." The panda was grinning watching the quizzical and curious look on his mate's face. The build up anticipation and a feeling of overwhelming apprehension creeping up her chest. Her muscle tensed, and her tail swished innocently around the dusty ground.

"Ok… what is it?" She couldn't hide the expectant edge of her voice, as the panda smiling knowingly and placing a small, tattered blue box in between her paws.

"WHAT? You called this invaluable! Wait, Po… are you… asking me…-"

"When all this ordeal ended, both my dads are going to ask Master Shifu for your hand…. Only… only if you agree of course." He reconditioned quickly to place the decision back into her paws.

"I….I don't know. I had to… think about this. No.. No, what I meant to say is -" She continued in random drivel as her mind fleeted all over the place, completely caught off guard.

"Tigress relax, I don't ask you to give me an answer now." He flung his arm over her shoulder.

"Arghh…. you stupid panda… I do…! I mean yes I do…" She started to sob in happy tears, and before anyone (even herself) anticipated anything, her arm jabbed square on his maw and sent him rolling backward.

She stood and quickly ran off to show the ring to everyone else.

"See?!… I told you." Viper swiftly handed a cold, wet cloth to the panda, who was grinning like a complete idiot.

"By the way, congratulation you two."


	20. Portrait of Mom

The dusk vanished slowly with a note of chary sunset. Beautiful color flooded the valley as the sun pulled itself down and sunk beneath the jagged mountain ranges and beyond the horizon, darkening the border and extinguishing the light, leaving it once again cold, blank and empty.

 _Tigress, do you know you own one of the most beautiful eyes?_

 _Yes, it was like fire. Like a sunset!_

 _Like what I see now._

 _It's so much like you, and your captivating eyes._

 _Beautiful, passionate and intense._

The sole black and white figure stood among the groove of the ironwood trees, clasping a praying incense in his paws. Ceremoniously, he stuck it on the ground where a modest stone marked her last place of rest. With his devoid and somber look, he traced his blunt claws on the inscription of her name.

 _It's been a year Tigress. But never a day passed without me thinking about you._

He combed his gaze around him, standing in solitude among the groove of the very trees the stripy cat had grown fond of training upon. He touched its tattooed bark, reminiscing the feline that had etched her signature upon it. Now, she was sleeping beneath their roots, the same tigress that had placed her marks, had returned the sentiment with her own form and energy.

The words of her last eulogy and benediction replayed in his head.

 _We lived our lives to seek our destiny and_ fulfill _the purpose ordained by the universe. One day, someday, we will reap the rewards of our effort and sacrifices. As many had gone before her, and at the appointed time, Master Tigress, our dear beloved friend, comrades and daughter had fulfilled her purpose and destiny and embraced it with open arms._

 _Her servitude,_ _loyalty, and bravery would be remembered as her living legacy of keeping the innocent life save, and bringing justice to the wicked. We were hopeful she had earned her peace within, which now she resides._

 _Master Tigress, you've fought a good fight._

 _We will forever cherish the memories you have left behind, we will keep your wishes and your dreams alive in our hearts, and we are looking forward the time when we shall join you at last._

A single bead of tears fell from his usual jovial eyes, lamenting the loss of a comrade.

A friend.

A soul mate.

Sadness and desperation bled through his thoughts. A Kung Fu warrior his caliber should master controlling his emotion, so he thought. He futilely attempted to clear his mind, suppressing her stripey form to sporadically surfaced in his thought. He was much familiar with this mental battle, day to weeks…months to years. He fought to forget her. But how could he? In his heart, she had carved countless memories no one could steal, and in turn, inflicted such a grievous hurt no one could heal.

He still remembered how their first friendship bloomed in the wake of Tai Lung's defeat. How happy he was to live his dream to fight alongside his heroes: that prideful look she bestowed upon him after he vanquished the demented peacock. Or the unbidden embrace she gave him after he returned from the Spirit Realm.

He hastily wiped the last evidence of salty water from the corner of his eyes.

Everything he loved had become everything he lost.

He had to learn how to act, to move on, to fill the day without her by his side. It was crazy to think he could go months and years without talking to her, but the tiger still crossed his mind every single day, from the smell of morning dew to the lulling voice of slumber. In a moment of reclusion, he often laid his bed, wistfully hoping to fall asleep before his emotions falling apart. He desperately tried to hold to the love, and not the loss, but it seemed impossible to separate the two.

He trudged back into the deserted training hall, well yeah… it was past dinner time, in fact, it was close to midnight. He hadn't realized how long he did spend grieving by her grave.

 _Tigress, do you remember the nights I often sneak up on you?_

 _You often trained here alone._

 _And I, with my panda stealth mode, prying on what kind of bodacious move you were perfecting._

 _Now the nights are quieter without you._

 _It's almost weird to wander around here at night, never to see anyone again inside._

 _But I missed you smile the most…._

 _I know you only savor it to selected few, and I am glad I am one of them._

 _I guess…. because it covers so much about you - your loyalty, your protectiveness, your earnestness... Yes, that same smile you gave me after I defeat Tai Lung….Shen and Kai._

 _In that smile, I managed to find a lot of things I love about you._

But of course, amidst his own grievances, Po knew perhaps Shifu was far more broken than he ever was. The Grand Master knew Tigress since she was a mere cub, although they shared the most unorthodox relationship, no one, not even Tigress, would dare to deny the love and connection they shared. Po could only imagine, how hard it is for Shifu to lose _both_ of his children. He remembered, a year ago, right after the incident, how both of them mourned their loss together.

"Master Shifu… I am sorry… I-" His voice grinding hoarsely around the corner of his words. Just as the panda about to utter the strings of condolences and remorse that he had practiced hundreds of times, his Master already knew what he was about to say.

"Po… don't blame yourself. You've done all you can." He turned around, revealing the touch of sadness that enshroud his azure eyes. "It's her time, Po. We all had to accept it." Po picked up an uncharacteristic rasp in his Master's voice, which stung harshly in his ears.

There might be strength in unity, as they stood face to face, exchanging the same sentiment and the burden of contrition towards the person they all loved.

"Oh yes Po, I believe this is yours." Shifu handed over a scroll. "Open it when you are ready. You don't have to do that just yet." He judiciously advised.

In his solitary confinement, Po scrutinized the modest golden canister that was engraved painstakingly with his name. He second guessed it was Tigress' last message for him.

That night, during a moment of repose, he crept quietly to the place he and the tiger usually would spend their time together. He thought it could only be fitting to do so. His paws shivered, and his heart raced as he slipped his hand to reach the parchment that held the most important piece of the tigress' mind.

* * *

Po,

If you received this letter, we both knew what has happened.

As a Warrior, Shifu taught me to live and die for what we believe in, to protect those we love, and to strive for peace and justice. I had no regrets to follow this pledge and hopefully I had made Shifu and every one of you proud.

I always envisioned myself dying on the battlefield, never to grow old, to see my pelt turning white, puckered and saggy…. ailing in muscle atrophy, or going senile and crotchety. I viewed growing old as a sign of submission into uselessness, and living in solitude was unwilling choice.

Po, the words that you are going to read here are only for you and your eyes only. I knew from the start I could confide a lot of things to you. You are my best friend, my brother in arms, and most importantly, you understand me.

I had never been proud of the way I treated you when we first met. There are simply no excuses for such unwarranted prejudice. I don't know whether I would ever forgive myself. I know you had never held any grudges against me, even readily forgave me before my word of apology reached your ears. But for that I know…., why neither me or Tai Lung was suitable to hold such honorific title as Dragon Warrior.

Your heart has made you a great hero, Po…. even so a greater friend.

Since you came into my life, you've taught me things I would never learn from mastering all the thousand scrolls or spending decades in reclusive meditation. Your selflessness, forgiving spirit, unwitting positivity and benevolence had carved far and deep into the impregnable iron heart of mine. I am deeply humbled and grateful to have a chance to fight alongside you, and being able to call you my comrade and….my friend.

I could foresee that you would retell the story of a valiant tigress in her bodacious adventure with Dragon Warrior and Furious Five. But I wanted you to tell the world, the other side of me, the tigress that full of spite, embitterment and bigotry towards you, the tigress that full of insecurity and dying to proof herself worth, the tigress that hid behind the shadow of hardcore-ness to trick other of what lying underneath was a fragile hurting soul.

Po, I hope you remember me not just for the good and the better, but also the bad and the worse. For that the tigress that you know and care.

And if there is one other thing that I want you to do for me, was to adopt Lei Lei as your child. I was a hapless orphan when Shifu found me, and he gave me a chance in life, however imperfect, to feel some form of paternal love and affection. It's my deepest regret that I am not in the position of offering her the same privilege, and that's where I extended my plea to you.

Po, my wish is that you won't ever need to read this letter, and that would mean that I'll be with you and the rest for the rest of my mortal presence… and I wouldn't have it any other way.

However, if you did read this paragraph - I could only apologize….for I can't be the one who could offer you words of consolation and provide a shoulder to cry on. Truthfully, the thought of living a long life, prospect of aging, growing frail, helpless and fragile isn't as frightening anymore, now that we've met.

And since this will be my last words, I guess it won't hurt to admit it. That you've stolen and melt my solid heart. I love you, Po…. and please forgive me. I bid you my farewell.

Until we meet again.

Yours,

Tigress

* * *

Subsequently, all he remembered was lumbering forward with both of his paws on his face, drowning in choking sobs underneath that peach tree. There was no language. No words, could describe his unbearable sadness.

Under the starless and blindness of night. He offered her a prayer.

"Tigress… I love you too."

* * *

A few days after that, Li Shan came to visit. For most of the days, everything around Jade Palace seemed to have returned to some extent of normality. All the training, the cheffing, and the teaching had run as usual. But in the middle of the night, there was a faint knock on his door. Recognizing the distinct delineation of his younger self behind the rice paper door, Li raised his voice.

"Son?"

"Dad… can I talk to you?"

Li could see the streak trailing across his son's face. He'd been crying again. Li had seen this coming since he came to the valley a few days ago, Po hadn't breathed a word about the loss of his heroine. With a soft sigh, he opened the door and unceremoniously threw himself on the chair. Ears were ready to listen.

"Sure, Son." He motioned Po to sit down, but the panda just froze by his door frame.

"Dad… how could I..-" He saw the insufferable pain clung all over his son's feature, the same expression of anguish which he himself was very familiar with, that he hadn't felt in years, now anchored within his son's expression. Even with such a short inquiry, Li immediately understood. He had lost someone he held dear before, he had tasted his own tears, buried his life under his own grief.

"Po… it gets easier with time. You just have to be patient, son."

"But how long, until…-" He was again lost in words. Li placed his arm across his son's shoulder and told him affectionately.

"If you love someone more than anything, then time only matter to the mind, not to the heart."

* * *

It was thirty years since that day had passed. The same panda stood at the same spot, offering the same thing. His sullen eyes gazed woefully at her gravestone. His ebony black pelt and graying white glimmer in receding daylight.

But this time, he wasn't alone. A young female panda half his age was next to him.

He placed a piece of paper that yellowed and aged with time in front of the altar. It was his last tangible memory of the tiger before she left her last note of mortal existence.

A familiar surge of sadness sliced through his bleeding soul. He knew no matter where he opened his sail, regardless of the direction of the wind, nor numerous adventure he would endeavor along the way, his heart would anchor towards her.

"Dad… was that, my mom?" His daughter's voice had awoken him from his momentarily musing.

The older panda briefly flicked his gaze, meeting her curious cerulean eyes. He smiled poignantly as his arm extended to reach the picture which laid rest on the altar and handed it over for the young panda to scrutinize.

"Yes… she is."

"How was she like?"

He smiled again to make up for the lack of vocality. This time, it wasn't somber, it was a sincere smile from the depth of his soul. The recollection of their missions, numerous sparring session, ran through his head, to a simpler time of washing dishes together, sneaking out for a midnight snack, stealing monkey's almond cookies, to sitting down around the kitchen table savoring his latest culinary experiment.

"She is a total package… smart, beautiful, strong willed... kind and passionate." He explicated, and quickly appended, "sometimes... she was insecure about herself, very much short tempered….but I wouldn't have it any other way. Her imperfection made us perfect for each other."

"I take it you missed her after all these years." She commented, placing her sympathetic smile and rubbing her father's arm affectionately.

"Yes… I do." He admitted. "But, distance means a little...when someone means so much."

* * *

Inspired by **Till We Sing You To Sleep by marlinowl**

My other fiction.

The Warriors (Kung Fu Panda) s/12001725/1/The-Warriors

Panda Friend (Kung Fu Panda) s/11976931/1/Panda-Friend

Moving Out (Kung Fu Panda) s/11973064/1/Moving-Out

KFP Drabble: s/11975907/1/KFP-Drabble-You-and-Me


	21. Expecting

KFP owned by Dreamworks.

These were some of the funny lines inspired by many fan arts of pregnant Tigress.

Also, I started a new fic, called 'Kissing Conundrum'

* * *

 **Disgusting**

For a start, the healer asked Tigress to pee on a stick. She didn't know, later on, as a mother, she would do a lot more disgusting things than that.

 **Expecting**

Yes, Tigress was officially expecting! Expecting Po to do the housework, expecting Po to rub her back, expecting Po to take Lei Lei and Bao to school, expecting Po to do the laundry…

 **Rubbing**

When people found out Tigress was pregnant, many congratulated her and rubbed her belly. Even though the effort to make her pregnant was done fifty-fifty, Po never wished anyone congratulate him and rubbed any part of him concerning the success of this matter.

 **Hangover**

Early in her pregnancy Tigress had a hangover every morning even when she wasn't even allowed any alcohol.

 **Awkward**

That awkward moment in pregnancy was when other people couldn't tell whether Tigress was pregnant or was just fat.

 **Benefit**

Tigress asked other mothers about the benefit of being pregnant. They said, having no period for quite a few months were quite a reason to celebrate. Tigress was gobsmacked, suddenly she knew where the 'expectation' bar was at.

 **Wonderful**

Nausea, bloating, back aches, pelvic pain, insomnia, hormonal imbalance, frequent urination, bleeding gums. "Yes, pregnancy is wonderful."

 **Excuse**

Everytime Po and Tigress bickered about food; Tigress would say, "I am not fat, I am pregnant, what is your excuse?" And that silenced the Dragon Warrior.

 **Brothers**

For once Po could say their belly could be brothers. Tigress was glad, her belly only an _adopted_ one.

 **Talent**

Being pregnant made Tigress realized, it took talent not to pee when she sneezed.

 **Appetite**

Tigress woke up at night for a cup of water. She ended up eating a bowl of dumpling and three pieces of bean bun. She blamed Po for the baby's monstrous appetite.

 **Trick**

Tigress knew one trick that would get Po to do anything she wanted. Gently placed her paw on her tummy and faked a discomforting sound.

 **The Adversary**

At around two p.m every night, Tigress was sure her cub heard a gong and went for kung fu training. The bad news was, the adversary was her bladder.

 **Superpowers**

Dragon Warrior said, his superpowers were to do Wuxi finger-hold and deflected cannon ball, Tigress said her superpower was to grow panger cub. Po immediately admitted defeat.

 **Superhero**

Being pregnant made Tigress felt like a superhero. A drained and weak superhero, who wanted to eat all the time and wasn't allowed to lift any heavy objects.

 **Hormone**

One thing Tigress was pleased about being pregnant was, she could punch, kick or verbally abuse anyone, and blamed her hormone for it.

 **The baby made me**

Shifu was left aghast when Tigress took the third serving during their lunch. Tigress just cooly said, "The baby made me eat it."

 **Praying**

One day, Tigress saw Po burning his incense and prayed. _Dear Guan Kim, please help my wife with her pregnancy and her hormones. I am about to bang my head on a concrete wall_.

 **Like a turtle**

After hitting her last trimester, Tigress felt like a turtle stuck on its back every time she tried to sit up. Therefore, she started to feel for Master Oogway (who presumably had stuck for more than 500 years).

 **A gift**

Mantis and Monkey bought a gift for their baby. With the argument that they had no idea how many cubs Tigress and Po would be having, they had labeled the clothing for baby no.1, _I was planned_ , baby no.2, _I was not_ , baby no.3, _neither do I_.

 **Overdue**

The baby was one week overdue. Tigress found herself writing eviction note on her belly: _Tenant has one week to vacate this premises to avoid forceful removal._

 **Ante-natal class**

As one of her ante-natal class, Tigress could sit to watch a real birth took place. She swore it made facing Tai Lung, Lord Shen or Kai like watching a puppet show.

 **Witness**

Tigress made sure Po didn't see her in labor. She was pretty sure that panda would castrate himself otherwise.

 **Congratulate**

Po wept happy tears when the villagers were congratulating him on the birth of their son. Tigress wondered, whether some of those parents congratulated the oblivious Dragon Warrior because he would never sleep peacefully ever again for the next 20 years.

 **Compliment**

Relating to the sentence above, Tigress was left intrigued why Po received a lot of compliment as he proudly showed their new baby around. First, the cub looked 90% tiger, 10% panda, secondly, she was the one who fell pregnant and had to carry twice her weight around, third, she was the one who did all the grunting, pushing and wailing….. Po did nothing but fret, which just added up to her overall suffering.

 **A baby**

A baby: made the love stronger, the days shorter, the nights longer, savings smaller, but a home happier.

 **Jobs**

After the cub was born, Tigress learned that, as a mother, she had two important jobs to do. One was to look after her child(ren), the second one was to do everything else.

 **Wonder**

Being a new mom was full of wonder.

Tigress wondered when she finally got a full night sleep.

 **Sleep**

Tigress watched the tiny creature, laid peacefully under the overwhelming spread of blanket around him. Just barely sleep for two hours, he would cry, then soiled his nappy, and then fell back to sleep, and repeat. Then Tigress looked at Po, who was sleeping soundly, not hearing any of the ruckus created by the cub no matter how loud. Tigress never wished to sleep like a baby anymore; she wished to sleep like her husband.

 **Alcohol**

After living six months with their baby, now all the strong beverages in their house were wearing this labels: _Beware, drinking alcohol before pregnancy could cause pregnancy._

 **Contraception**

Having a constantly crying baby must be the best contraception there was during ancient China.

 **Birth control**

Tigress thought birth control herb should be consumed by men, not women. It made more sense to unload the gun than to shoot someone with bullet proof vest.

 **Magical Power**

Both Po and Tigress were confident their cub inherited some supernatural power. Every time he yelled some gibberish sound, a servant would magically appear to carry his demand. And those servants were none other than Dragon Warrior and the leader of the Furious Five. Isn't that quite something?

 **Heart**

Their baby was something Tigress carried inside her for five months, in her arms for two years, but in her heart until the day she died.


	22. Under The Sacred Peach Tree

_Good times come and go, but memories will stay forever._

 _Sometimes you don't know a value of a moment until it becomes a memory._

 _Memories take us back. Dreams take us forward._

 _UNDER THE PEACH TREE_

 _KFP owned by Dreamworks_

* * *

Under the peach tree.

 _You don't belong here…._

 _You are a disgrace to Kung Fu…_

That were the words she used to describe him when he first came. Tigress could immediately tell by the look in his eyes. It hurt him more than any of dismissal she had given him before. It summarized the painful truth, between her and him, a kung fu master and a noodle maker, that they were miles between one another. Her priorities, her aim, her moral and her destiny ― all worlds apart.

Tigress could hear his heart cracked, mostly because those words came from her mouth ― his favorite master out of the Five; his heroine; but that didn't concern her. Whether she broke his spirit, his will to do kung fu, his hope… so be it.

For he had broken hers.

That very moment he crashed landed in front of her, and was chosen as the Dragon Warrior without foreknowledge of Kung Fu other than a mere fanboyish notion ― was deeply hurt her. Her pride, her hard work and her life of stronghold dedication towards the art, was thrown to pieces.

Tigress clearly didn't understand what Oogway could see behind that corpulent belly of his. Neither was the infantile act he pulled from time to time. If you asked her that instant, he was nothing than a complete waste of space, and depleting the usage of perfectly good fresh air.

Tigress was bitter, vicious and spiteful.

But all soon to change after the panda had vanquished the estranged brother of hers. He finally earned her respect and her approval. But the panda wanted more. He wanted her trust… her friendship.

"Hi Master Tigress…. looking for me?"

"Um… yes," she said reluctantly, but quickly stomped all the hesitancy from her voice. "Dragon Warrior, I came here to apologize. I admit my inexcusable prejudices towards you when you first came, and….. and I've said mean things to you."

"Hey, that's okay… chill out. By the way, I have something for you." He probed his patchy burlap, revealing a golden canister. "Here… this is _yours_."

 _Is that, the Dragon Scroll? Why is he giving that to me?_

As if the panda could read her mind, Po quickly appended, "...in my mind. This is never mine. You have worked hard for this, Master Tigress." He tugged her paw and pushed the canister firmly into her grasp. The tiger was stony silence, watching the panda with her bewildered crimson eyes.

"Can we be… _friends_?" he grinned widely. His sincere request invited a warm gush of feeling in her chest. _So, he wanted a friendship with me in return of that Dragon Scroll?_

"Of course. Call me Tigress."

"And I am Po."

* * *

Under the peach tree.

 _That stupid oaf was causing all this… THIS!_ Tigress angrily swept the fallen leaves under the ancient tree's skeletal limbs that almost completely bare. It was in the middle of autumn, and punishment such as 'sweeping the leaves' could be proven impossible to achieve. All because she was sparring with Po, and her unnatural strength and accurate maneuver had caused the panda to slam hard against the training hall wall, hence creating a large, gaping conduit.

Suddenly, her sensitive kung-fu senses detected an approaching rustling sound.

"Tigress?"

The tiger let and explosive, disgruntled sigh ― clearly indicating his presence were unwelcome," Yes Po?"

"I-I am sorry for what had happened in the training hall. If I could handle your kick, all this would not have happened." He twiddled his thumb and looked at her vexed countenance with his remorseful, somber green eyes.

"That's ok." Tigress tried to dismiss his unwarranted concern and apology apathetically, tearing her gaze from him and resumed her sweeping. But the panda still stood there like a statue.

" _What_?" Tigress paused and stared at him with her piercing, interrogative look. "You have something else better to do than to watch me sweeping the leaves, right?"

"Well, at least…," he said with a nearly inaudible squeaky voice, "let me help you, so you can rest and do whatever you like."

"No, Po… honestly, I can do this myself. Anyway, it's past lunchtime, I am sure you'll be hungry."

" _Please_?" He stubbornly pleaded as he moved closer.

"Panda, would you just…-" Abruptly, she felt a gentle peck on her lips. Her mind instantly froze, desperately tried to reason what had just happened.

"...finish the task for you? My pleasure…!" Po quickly grabbed the broom from her loosened grip and began to sweep zealously. But within less than five minutes into the task, the demon underneath his corpulent belly was demanding a peace offering.

Tigress nimbly climbed the tree, grabbed a peach and took a bite as she went down. "You want to have a taste?" She offered, smiling impishly to the confused panda who was still holding the broom.

"Oh yeah, sure, I'd love t-hhmhmpphhh…." The tiger lunged at him and paid the panda a fierce, heady kiss.

In a moment of respite, both panda and tiger lost consciousness in what they were doing.

"So… how that's? Sweet?"

* * *

Under the peach tree

"Po… I am scared of what you are trying to give me tonight." She admitted after finally found her words and courage.

"And what was that?"

"Everything…. _Everything_ you have and that scares me. I don't deserve such dedication."

"Tigress, if you remembered me back in the past. I am a firm believer of dreams." He said, "...and today, I had a chance to live my dream."

Tigress knew….Po was such a dreamer.

He had dreamt of being a kung fu master, fought along his heroes that had inspired him to be someone he chose to be. Somewhere along the way, those simple admiration turned into something more personal, and he dreamt to be her friend, to know what was her favorite color, her favorite food (other than tofu), things that made her scared, happy or sad. A lot of trials, missions and moments of insecurities had nurtured their friendship and encouraged the initial infatuation to grow into something more.

It was the same with Tigress, but she was always calculative when it came to declaring her emotions….. while Po? He had given the word 'unbidden' a new meaning. He was spontaneous and abrupt, not thinking twice when he spoke with his heart, but then she knew how truthful and sincere he was.

Then, he dreamt about being her soulmate, to be with her plowing through many battles, facing countless death and fighting alongside her….. and he had expressed and sealed his earnest dream with a ring.

"Tigress…. Would you take the honor, to be with me… forever?"

Tigress stood there and left speechless, the cogs and gears in her mind spinning, working out what to say next.

Making up for the lack of vocality, Po quickly immediately took back the control. "We don't have to get married immediately… I mean, I have spoken to Shifu and both of my Dads, they are cool about it. Shifu already settled the venue, my panda dad already chose the temple, while my goose dad already planned the menu. But still….it took time rite, looking for a tailor, making the dress, and all that… "

Suddenly a warm smile erupted on her maw as a witty suggestion flew into her mind.

"Does training outfit counted as a wedding dress?"

* * *

Under the peach tree.

"Ah… it's so peaceful up here."

"You have not worked for my dad for 25 years, Tigress. Especially during moon festival, maaaan...I can't even pass through the courtyard. And don't get me started on the line of orders." The panda slapped his meaty paw on his forehead and made a fake cringing face.

"Yeah, you are right, but let me remind you ― for the longest time, it's only me, Shifu and Oogway. So, having three hundred people in our wedding was quite something," she rebutted.

"Ah, at least that was done and dusted."

"You could say that now, you were so nervous - during the tea ceremony, you pour the tea to your uncle's foot instead of the cup," the tiger playfully nudged him with the tip of her elbow.

Po cackled, "...but he still gave us a big hong bao… I reckon we can go for honeymoon next month with it."

"But I don't want to miss training." Tigress disproved.

"Ugh… Tigress come on… you can train another week or so. We'll be away for a few days. Y'know, just you and me." He attempted to coax her out of her unhealthy addiction to training.

"Well, it's just you and me here too… so does this count as a honeymoon?" She quipped.

"Tigress!" The panda whined, pinching his temple in pure incredulity.

"What do people do on honeymoon anyway… that they need to go far away." Tigress challenged Po's logical explanation.

"And I thought seclusion was your thing," the panda sinisterly chided.

"Not as much as training," she rebutted, increasingly amused by Po's frustrated look.

"Well, y'know… we can explore places he never been…. have romantic dates every night, and… doing things married couples do," he said in futile attempt to insinuate further.

"We can always have a romantic date at your dad's," Tigress bluntly turned down Po's lucrative proposition.

"But we have no space doing what married couples do… the wall in the student barrack was, you know… too revealing?!" He moped.

"Oh, that," she responded as something suddenly clicked in her mind.

Abruptly, she caught him with her lips, tongue and muzzle and letting him intoxicated with her spicy, exotic scent. Naturally, their paws slipped around each other, as the panda letting himself savored his newly well-earned title. The simple motion was quickly escalated into lust-induced make-out session.

After a few minutes that felt like forever, they parted for oxygen. Both still adjusting their breaths and palpitations from such a rigorous adrenaline exercise.

"Wait, Tigress, what are you ―" He gasped as his wife started to loosening her sash and unbuttoning her chest wrapping.

"Trust me. There won't be anyone here." She said invitingly and broadened her seductive smile. Po's eyes lit up on her flirtatious maneuvers but remained a little skeptical, especially after living for so long with a bunch of kung fu masters who sneak attack could ambush him just about anywhere.

"What about the ghost of Master Oogway?"

"Don't think he minds a tiny bit of _entertainment_ , do you?" She smiled impishly, and before the panda utter words of retribution. His trousers just disrobed itself, and everything went down the hill from there.

"But…―"

"Ssshhh… no more words, Dragon Warrior. We are going to make your dad's wish comes true."

She pulled the nervous panda to rest his weight on her, nipped the nape of his neck, and inducing his instinct to take over the steering wheel unwittingly.

* * *

Under the peach tree.

Tigress silently adored the tiny being obscured under the oversized blanket. While children had reserved a special place in her heart, such novelty of holding a newborn cub had yet triggered her motherly instinct. She was such an innocent looking thing — it was almost like looking into her own portrait in a whole different time. And then the cub yawned widely with a cute mewl, curling her little pink tongue, and briefly opened her eyes to see her mother.

Tigress smiled at her child. Yes, this was hers and Po's. The personification of their love.

She couldn't believe it. A few hours ago, she was wailing, screaming, and shrieking bloody murder in an undignified way. She even offhandedly shouted at Viper's and Shifu's mindless orders such as 'breathe' or 'calm down,' 'almost over' and 'just relax' — bellowed in between her involuntary moan that eventually drowned them out.

But that unmistakable infant's cry seemed to melt all the suffering away. All pain was gone and long forgotten.

"She is so precious," she commented, her eyes fixed firmly into the tiny being who was sleeping soundly in her cradle.

The panda next to her chuckled,"...thankfully she inherited her mother's good looks, and only had his father's eyes."

"I still love her even when she is hundred percent looked like her father." Tigress leaned towards Po's chest as he wrapped his plush arms around two most important women in his life.

Po looked up, to meet the eyes of the woman that had sacrificed her figure… her career… in return to bear his children, submitting herself in faithful humility and bountiful devotion as a wife and mother.

"Tigress…. thank you." He reached her paw and planted a gentle, passionate kiss on her brows.

Tigress smiled contentedly. "Anything for you, my panda."

* * *

Under the peach tree.

Tigress was looking for Master Shifu. She'd been looking for him everywhere — in the Hall of Warriors, student quarter, kitchen, Pool of Sacred Tears, Training Hall… and still, she couldn't locate him.

 _Ah… one more place to check._ She thought as she headed to the Sacred Peach Tree.

From a reasonable distance, she heard a gentle hum floated in the air. She activated her stealth mode and prowled silently approaching the source of the rendition.

Finally, she could see his tiny frame, curving under the peach tree. Shifu was cradling a striped furry ball. He swayed serenely from side to side, nuzzling the creature's cheek and caressing it with his skinny hand, humming and smiling mindlessly. Such passionate happiness brimming in his eyes like Tigress had never seen him before — as if just receiving a little piece of heaven. Such calm spell laid over the air. Tigress felt almost guilty to break.

"Hope you grow up to be like your mother, little one….. She is beautiful, brave and strong. I am very proud of her." Tigress heard her father said to the bundle in his arm, "...but I made such a fatal mistake….. for the longest time, I had not allowed myself to love her freely...I am glad, I can make that up with you," and he kissed the creature's forehead, earning a sated mewl from her.

Tigress felt her eyes warms with tears. She impeded her intention to talk to her master.

 _I love you too, Father._

* * *

Under the peach tree.

Tigress couldn't fall asleep, so she decided to go under the peach tree, and watched the peaceful village lulled in slumber underneath the twinkling sky.

Tigress looked at her paw, where a simple ring sat modestly between the digits of her fingers. Its color gleamed against the scrutiny of wan moonlight, revealing some scratches on its withered surface, and its edges had reduced to humble curves where the word 'ai' (love) was engraved.

It might be old, worn and tired, but that ring had witnessed numerous love being proclaimed, countless promised being made and many dreams turned reality.

"Do you know why I chose this place to propose you?" she recalled Po words from many years ago — they were still ringing loud and clear in her head. She shook her head haltingly, while a meaningful smile curved on the panda's maw. He reached his paw to pick a peach.

"Peach is a symbol of immortality…. longevity….and I think, it is a perfectly fitting depiction of my love for you."

But that was four decades years ago. Indeed both of them had sailed through many bodacious adventures together, fighting adversaries, traveled all across China, completing number scrolls, collecting all assortments of accolades… too simple, menial things like changing their cubs' diapers, washing dishes, picking up the mess after their kids and watching their children grew to embrace their own destiny.

A smile of contentment graced her maw.

 _You know you are in love when you can't fall asleep because the reality is finally better than your dreams._

* * *

The last quote was by Dr. Seuss.

Also, please check my ongoing new fiction 'Kissing Conundrum.'

R&R


	23. When We're Young

_A little shortie based on a picture by peace-on (at Tumblr) that suggesting headcanon: what if, during secret of scrolls, Tigress coincidentally met Po when picked up her missing canister._

 _WHEN WE WERE YOUNG_

 _KFP owned by Dreamworks._

* * *

My heart fluttered when I saw her.

 _There she is, the girl I heard adopted by Shifu. Oh my gosh, she is actually cuter up close._

 _She is gorgeous, awesome, and brave, with a myriad of accolades. While me? I was just a fat, unmannered panda with nothing to be proud of._

I saw her picking up a canister behind the restaurant.

 _What is she doing? Heck, you know what Po, this is your chance!_

For a moment I was torn, _should I? or should I not? Duh, maybe not, what can I tell her anyway?_ My heart started to race as my foot decided otherwise. I swore I forgot to breathe when she looked at me.

 _Po, say something!_ I heard my brain rebuked me.

"Uh…. hi, what-a…what-a nice day huh?" I stuttered terribly, completely and utterly lost in my own drivel. But when I look into her ruby eyes, I saw… I saw something familiar. Someone who had gone through the same thing as me.

"Ah yes, sorry if I disturb you… my canister fell his way. I don't mean to pry." She explained while clasping a green cylindrical container within the digits of her paws. Her voice was silky and sweet on my ears, making the fibers on my body shivered in ecstasy, and weakened my knee.

"No…no no, of course not. By the way, I am Po." I said reluctantly."…you are Shifu's daughter, right?" I inquired while thanking the heavens for restoring my fluency….. and my knee.

"Oh… you know me?" Her beautiful amber eyes widened, and then a smile graced her maw. "Shifu adopted me. He is my Master. By the way, just called me Tigress… I lived up there," she pointed out to a palace up on the hill. "Maybe I could come again sometimes, at the moment Shifu has given me an important assignment. I better go now."

My heart stopped….It was casual, nothing too deep. _But I know. I know… something is blooming right there._

"Yeah sure. See you Tigress."

"See you, Po."

I was 15. She was 14. We were both young, innocent and full of life. Little did I knew, that day, both of us did each other a favor. I picked four of her life-long friends, her brother and sister in arms, and she ignited my long life passion for kung fu. But that remained a secret of the universe until fate brought us together ten years later.

 _We don't meet people by accident. They crossed our path for a reason._


	24. Small Forever

Me: Lei Lei, tell them!

Lei Lei: That I am cute, adorable and irresistible.

Me: No... not that one.

Lei Lei: Oh? That we all want Stripey Baby and Cuddles to get together?

Me: Nooo...! *sigh*

Ok, nevermind... Just want to remind you all, I don't own KFP... and that includes that silly little panda.

Lei Lei: But you do want Stripey Baby and Cuddles to get together? ...Right?

* * *

SMALL FOREVER

* * *

"Mom…. wake up."

I heard her strained whisper on my sensitive ears. Subsequently, I felt a gentle nuzzling over my cheek, a familiar scent of jasmine mixed with a tantalizing tone of Secret Ingredient Soup invaded my nostrils. I cracked open my eyes slowly, to see her sparkling blue eyes, smiling tenderly at me.

 _Oh, my little panda girl._

Registering the intense sunlight that seeped through a slight opening on the curtains, suddenly my brain reminded me.

"Oh my gosh Lei Lei, I need to take you to Jade Palace!"

I quickly sat up, repelling every inch of sleepiness from my head, detaching all the warm and comfort of my blanket, and frantically straightening my messy fur with my paws. I was trying to be careful not to disturb the other monochromatic creature next to me, that still snoring noisily in deep slumber.

"Mom!" I heard her imploring sigh. Her cute little lips pursed, punctuating her adorable, miffed face. "I can walk myself to the Jade Palace, it is just five minutes from here," she whined.

"But I need to make you breakfast." I defended, landing my feet on the cold floor, and prepared to rush to the kitchen. But before I even managed to stand up, that perky little panda slid a tray onto my lap.

"I thought you'll be hungry when you wake up, so I did it while I was in the kitchen."

She had made me breakfast.

I was positive my mouth must be gaping by then. On my lap was Mr. Ping famous soup ― the Secret Ingredient Soup ― ready to be devoured. My uncharacteristic reaction invited her delightful smirk.

"...right to the dot from Gong-gong's recipe," she disclosed,"...and the secret ingredient is…"

"―love." I completed her sentence. We both smiled as I landed a tender kiss on her forehead.

 _Oh, how I love her! My sweet little panda._

"I see you later for shopping," I told her, "...and if you helped me, you'll be getting your favorite sweets as a reward."

"Of course." She replied. I stood up to take her to the door…. and then that little panda was gone.

* * *

Later on, that afternoon, after I ran various domestic related errands, I climbed the immense height of Jade Palace to pick Lei Lei up. When I arrived at the door of the training hall, I still could hear her voice, shouting various kind of battle cry, accompanied by the sound of thudding punches. I pushed the door open slowly, not wanting to disturb the ongoing training.

I saw Master Shifu sat, meditating next to the adversary, while Po, Crane, and Monkey were teaching a few students ― Lei Lei was one of them.

Suddenly, I felt a familiar touch rubbing my silk trousers, followed by another familiar feminine voice.

"Tigress?" It was Viper. "Ready for this weekend?" she chuckled.

"I just about to take Lei Lei for shopping for that," I admitted. The serpent nodded. "You two will have fun. I see you on the celebration."

Before long, my little girl emerged from the training hall. Still heaving, panting, and a clammy layer of sweat cascading from her forehead. But that bright, contented smile which decorated her face was unforgettable.

"I did well today," she retorted pridefully, "...even Dad and Master Shifu gave me a commendation."

"Well done you," I complimented her achievement. "Now, let's go shopping. Those sweets won't be there forever."

We both raced down the thousand steps, into the heart of the village market. I pulled on my shopping list that Po had prepared for me, and we both went for the hunt. Her paw was firmly clutching on mine like she often did. About fifteen minutes later, my basket started to weigh down on me. Not that I couldn't carry it, of course.

"Mom, let me take that." Before I could utter any word of protest, or antagonize her assumption of the limit of my strength, the basket had moved from my paw to hers.

"If I didn't help, I wouldn't get any sweets…. remember?" she reminded me. I smiled. "Yes, of course."

We both headed to the cashier to pay, and as usual, Mrs. Chang handed her a large red lolly ― cherry flavors had always been her favorite. Lei Lei smiled sweetly and thanked the generous sheep.

"Next one ― the seamstress… to pick your dad's new slack, and after that, we could sit by your grandad restaurant for lunch," I announced.

"You stay here with the shopping Mom. I'll pick up the slack," I hummed my voice of agreement.

I saw her figure moving in the distance, and could barely make up her voice, which was diluted in the dissonance around me.

"I am picking up trousers…" I heard her saying. The gentleman from behind the counter ― a young rhino, smiled amiably. "...who is it for?"

"My dad… so it should be under the name of Po Ping." There was an element of surprise in his eyes.

"Oh, Dragon Warrior is your father?"

"Yes, I am Lei Lei Ping….. and you?" she asked innocently, with her big, twinkling eyes.

The curve on his maw just tugged an inch wider, "Yong Gang…" he said rather shyly, while his hand was laboriously picking the slack and putting it inside a paper bag.

"Oh… _courageous_ and _powerful_?" she offered another cute smile that could melt the earth. Tigress could see the rhino blushing scarlet by now, tongue-tied, and clearing his throat in his futile attempt to maintain his cool. "Nice to meet you, Yong-Gang…. And thanks." Lei Lei politely took the bag and exited the shop.

 _Ah, she is such a charmer, but who could resist? Even my hardcore self couldn't._

We arrived right after the lunchtime madness just dissolved. My eyes unwittingly identified the bulky silhouette of my husband, and four of my comrades.

I greeted my father in law. Three of us exchanging pleasantries before I joined up with the rest, while Lei Lei decided to follow Mr. Ping into the kitchen. We sat a stone throw away from the counter. I could vividly hear Lei Lei cute voice intertwining with Mr. Ping slight hoarse squeak.

"Gong-gong, are you serious?!" her voice was brimming with excitement. I could see the flashing burst of colorful fireworks in her eyes.

"Of course, you could help me in the restaurant, that way you can save some money quickly… not to mention, some of the customers will generously tip you for that cute smile of yours. Who can resist?!" The old goose chuckled.

"But the restaurant opens early in the morning, I won't be able to make it here on time," she moped.

"You can sleep upstairs, in your father's old bedroom," Mr. Ping offered a solution. A broad smile spread on her maw, "...really Gong-gong? I can move ― there?"

"Of course, you just need to ask your parents approval." Mr. Ping replied wisely.

By then I nearly choked on my dumpling, that Po had to slam his meaty palm on my back. Undoubtedly, he heard all the dialogue that was exchanged between his father and Lei Lei as well as I did. He rubbed his paw soothingly on my back and smiled in response to my unwarranted worry.

"Relax Tigress, remember… she'll be twenty-one this weekend... Besides, my Dad's shop just 5 minutes walking distance from ours."

I sighed pensively.

 _If only I could keep things small forever._

* * *

A baby is something you carry inside you for nine months, in your arms for three years, and in your heart until the day you die

This fiction was inspired by IKEA advert :-)

R&R. Thank you.


	25. After the Wedding Night

_Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave._

 _Martin Luther_

* * *

A gentle golden ray meandered through the rustic bamboo window, disturbing the sleeping feline that slumber usually as light as snow. But today, it was different. With added warmth and auto-cuddling pillow around her, she just mewled softly and turned her back against the gentle tease of the sun.

But then, she realized something.

She hadn't heard the Gong yet, and outside looked bright and as noonday time. She snapped awake.

And then she remembered. She wasn't in her old bedroom, in Jade Palace student quarter, neither was she in Valley of Peace. She was in the Secret Panda Village, and yesterday was their wedding ceremony.

A reality struck her like a brick.

She was a married woman now. She had survived the whole procession of meticulous wedding preps, complicated rituals, and… the wedding night. Her mind alerted her of impending duty she had to do next ― woke up to prepare her new husband breakfast and tea, and then joining her husband's family to pay respect to his ancestor.

A cold air touched her shoulder, making her shrunk beneath the cover. She wasn't keen to detach herself from the comfortable warmth… besides, it's snowing outside.

Of course, that was a big fat lie. Anyone knew almost nothing could hurt her. She survived being blasted by iron balls, and climbed the frozen waterfall injured, surely… a little snow and a hint of chill wouldn't hurt?!

The real reason would obviously the ginormous fluffy pillow next to her, and the fact that he wore nothing… just adding to the pleasant sensation of cuddling next to him.

Tigress nuzzled the panda lightly. His eyes still firmly shut, his chest rise and fall rhythmically, and his heart thudded in perfect comforting rhythm. It's such a shame they had to wake up…especially when she remembered the event that took place in that room last night.

She felt a strange pool of feeling in her stomach and a strange mixture of unease and excitement when she looked at her new husband. Shifu would probably think she'd been ridiculous and Viper probably would laugh at her naivety. But as a maiden, the hardest part of the rituals behind her now, she should feel calm and peaceful. Anyway, she was very sure she didn't disappoint Po last night. It wasn't really comfortable for her, but not as painful as many married women had expounded to her. For Tigress, that wasn't the most concerning fact. The notion of her submitting herself to a man, showing her fragility, vulnerability and all… and being completely exposed to him, but she didn't regret it one bit. Not with Po.

Tigress carefully turned around and readying to leave, trying not to wake the panda from his peaceful slumber. But as soon as her upper body giving a sign of leaving the bed, a pair of heavy arms and legs clutched her from behind.

"Panda, you are awake! You faker!" She said with repressed voice. The panda chuckled softly, pulling her against his bare chest.

"Morning, wife."

The appellative sounded weird in her ears.

"Morning…. Husband?"

And that even worse rolling out of her tongue that usually firing words of antagonistic defiance and sarcastic disdain more than a warm greeting. And not to mention the slight bashfulness on her tone? She had no idea where it came from. Good grief!

She complied and tugged back beneath the covers, but suddenly reminded how naked he was… and how naked she was. An unfamiliar surge of blood raised through her face when their bare skin grazed to each other. It was funny to think she was usually the assertive, aggressive and dominating one in the battlefield. But this was a _different_ battlefield. The battlefield of forbidden passion... and it was entirely new to her.

Her husband pulled the blanket slightly away from her, exposing her powerful shoulder and touched it gently. The feeling of embarrassment getting harder to hide. Maybe his goofy grin?… or maybe his magic touch that currently traveling up and down the back of her spine?

"No punch? no kick? No shouting?" The panda teased her, pressing her muscular length closer.

"Don't tempt me." But her words came out sounding seductive instead of provoking… clearly, the panda had altered her inner ego beyond her control. She found her body answering his call against her will. She just stared at him with a silent moan of helpless surrender.

And then followed by a lapsing moment of silence. He gazed upon the slender figure next to him. Her hypnotizing stripes that contrasted her intense auburn fur. Underneath her magnificent curve lurking a spectacular show off toned muscle, painstakingly formed from years of relentless training and discipline.

Undoubtedly, he had seen her unclad numbers of time. But they were team-mates, and in missions, he tended to push aside all the real aesthetic value and the depth of her naked splendor. But since last night, he had seen her in a completely different light. She was his wife… she was his… and that fact had given him a new context on how his eyes feast on her indescribable charm. He could get intoxicated with her spicy scent, hold her and told her how much he loved her, witness her insurmountable bravery while he traced her battle scar ….and completely get himself lost in her like he did last night.

He planted one kiss on her forehead and a few others on the crook of her neck and her shoulder… substituting his warm paws.

"Po… we need to get up… your father and the ancestor ―..." She was unwillingly silenced by her own lustful conscience.

 _Ugh. This is getting out of hand._

"Po? We must ―..."

"Mmm?"

He didn't stop. She found that her determination weakening with every touch of his expert kisses. She delightedly surrendered being the passive recipient of his love, relishing every inch of his touch.

And there was a knock on the door.

Po groaned. "Could Dragon Warrior had a day off on the morning after his own wedding?" he muttered a suppressed curse under his breath. But inadvertently both of them leaped from their marital bed, and briskly tried to find any material that could hide their nakedness.

"Po, don't worry… we'll have another time, tonight," the tiger whispered loudly as she slipped into her robes ― trying to mollify her husband growing annoyance. But apparently, the thin bamboo wall of the hut, concealed nothing but the occupants within. Tigress was positive the goose messenger (who was apparently none other than the panda's adopted father) heard every single exchange they produced inside the room.

"Dragon Warrior will be late praying to the ancestor. He is on a very important mission with his wife!" Mr. Ping pridefully announced. And he left.

Both of them blushed, but not stopping whatever they were doing… until the panda caught the sight of his wife, dressing herself...a lot more delicately than she was a minute before. He remembered he was thinking not to let his fathers and the villagers waiting for them to pay their respect, but unwittingly his brain was revising this now. She was just….just… magnificent. It was apparent that his fascination had won over his common sense, and defying all his rationality.

"Tigress…?" The passion was thickening on his voice.

The tiger whirled around, still clutching the rest of her clothes against her bare chest.

"Y'know… I think, my dads and the villagers already knew we are going to be late… so, may as well ―..."

She looked at him. Initially, Po thought his wife was going to reprimand him for his outward show of disrespect towards the important ritual. But she just stood there and…. Smile. Mischievously.

He just gaped there like a besotted fool.

"I agree." She answered. He just froze, listening to the lustrous sound that fell from her lips.

Tigress gracefully slid closer, coquettishly sat on her husband's lap and invited his paws to undress her. Silencing all his mental battle of adhering to the ancestor ritual, he took his bride once again and laid her down gently upon cool sheets.

At the end, they were a few hours late. The rest of his family, Shifu, and Mr. Ping had already sat down for lunch. Tigress was quick to apologize, but Mr. Ping and Li beat her to it, stating that producing the Li and Ping's heir was far more important than paying respect to the elders and the dead. Besides, according to Li, _the one_ in the morning was usually a lot better than one on the night of the wedding.

"We can try again tomorrow to visit the temple and pay our respect," Li suggested, "... but don't need to apologize if you were late again. We understand."


End file.
